Skip to main content

ITS Australia supports Melbourne’s world first ‘urban laboratory’

ITS Australia has welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement of a unique hi-tech transport project for Melbourne. The National Connected Multimodal Transport (NCMT) test bed will develop pilots and facilitate collaborations between government, industry and academia. It will utilise thousands of sensors and wireless units fitted to roads to provide insight into how to manage transport systems and road networks in a more efficient way. The urban laboratory would cover approximately 7 kilometres
January 6, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
858 ITS Australia has welcomed the Victorian Government’s announcement of a unique hi-tech transport project for Melbourne.

The National Connected Multimodal Transport (NCMT) test bed will develop pilots and facilitate collaborations between government, industry and academia. It will utilise thousands of sensors and wireless units fitted to roads to provide insight into how to manage transport systems and road networks in a more efficient way.

The urban laboratory would cover approximately 7 kilometres of roadways in Melbourne.

ITS Australia confirmed its participation in the project by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with test bed leaders, the University of Melbourne, late last year.

The first pilot NCMT test bed is scheduled to be launched in April 2017.

ITS Australia CEO Susan Harris said the test bed and a recent iMOVE CRC submission to the Federal Government show just how seriously Australia takes real-time, data-driven research to find the best possible outcomes.

Professor Iven Mareels, Dean of the Melbourne School of Engineering said a connected community was the key to improved transport options, while founding director of the NCMT test bed and University of Melbourne Professor in Transport for Smart Cities, Majid Sarvi, said the urban laboratory will be a living experiment of connected vehicles and transport networks, people movements and city infrastructure.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Vodafone to bring 5G to UK CAM testbed
    October 22, 2020
    Telecoms giant says this offers 'extremely low' latency to Midlands Future Mobility route
  • Keeping traffic moving on Melbourne’s M80
    July 21, 2016
    As a result of collaboration between VicRoads and the Technical University of Crete in Victoria, Australia, to find new ways to reduce congestion, drivers on the M80 are to benefit from new technology. Following a manual trial in 2014, the Adaptive Variable Speed Limit has now been implemented on the M80 ring road in Melbourne. The system recognises when traffic is starting to build up and adjusts traffic speed, regulating traffic flow and providing a safer and more reliable journey for the 160,000 drive
  • President’s transportation budget ‘takes the next step’, says ITS America
    February 10, 2016
    Announcing President Obama’s US$98.1 billion Fiscal Year 2017 Budget for the US Department of Transportation (DOT), Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, “Meeting future challenges will require a long-term vision for the transportation sector that includes more and cleaner options, and expands those options to communities across the country. This budget brings us closer to that vision.” The Budget addresses the DOT’s top priority, safety, with investments in the safe integration of emerging techno
  • Cubic to participate in Australia’s National Electronic Tolling Forum
    May 25, 2016
    Jon Ramirez, director of tolling worldwide at Cubic Transportation Systems, will participate in a panel discussion on international tolling projects at the National Electronic Tolling Forum 2016 held in Brisbane, Australia, on 25 and 26 May. Organised by Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Australia with the theme Smart City Tolling, the event will host leading authorities in the field and examine solutions to smart city congestion using emerging and ITS technologies. Ramirez will offer insights into Cu