Skip to main content

Australia moves towards C-ITS systems

Plans to establish a connected vehicle network, known as Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), across Australia have taken a significant step forward with the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) intention to allocate the 5.9 GHz band by early 2017. The body representing Australia’s vehicle industry, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCIA), has welcomed ACMA’s release this week of a consultation paper outlining the proposed regulatory measures to support the na
August 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Plans to establish a connected vehicle network, known as Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), across Australia have taken a significant step forward with the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) intention to allocate the 5.9 GHz band by early 2017.

The body representing Australia’s vehicle industry, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCIA), has welcomed ACMA’s release this week of a consultation paper outlining the proposed regulatory measures to support the national roll-out of C-ITS.

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said the regulatory framework provided by ACMA is an essential first step in the development of an integrated, automated and connected driving network in which vehicles will be able to digitally exchange information with other vehicles sharing the same road and equally importantly, allow vehicles to communicate with the road network and surrounding infrastructure.

Weber said ACMA’s proposed regulatory arrangements support the introduction of C-ITS in the 5.9 Gigahertz band, confirming that the Australian C-ITS standards will be the same as that used in EU. Any vehicles operating on other frequency bands, such as those built specifically for use in the Japanese domestic market, will not be able to communicate with Australian vehicles.

“And what is equally as important, any vehicles imported that operate on different standards, will illegally interfere with a range of other services here such as toll roads and mobile phones,” he says.

“This consultation paper places a digital marker from which our C-ITS will mirror those being planned and implemented by Europe.”

The FCAI has been in consultation with ACMA, Austroads, which is developing the all-important framework for the rollout of C-ITS nationally, as well as other major stakeholders.

Related Content

  • European ideal poses local problems for toll companies
    December 16, 2013
    Being the first organisation attempting to implement an interoperable system poses challenges and increases risk that must be managed to realise the benefits. The European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) legislation aims to avoid the problems experienced in the USA and provide road users with seamless travel across the EU but it can pose big problems for some toll operators. Take, for instance, the case of the Humber Bridge in the UK. Its case was highlighted at the recent ITS World Congress by Tim Gammons,
  • Legalities of in-vehicle systems and cooperative infrastructures
    February 1, 2012
    Paul Laurenza of Dykema Gossett PLLC discusses the paths which lawmakers may go down on the route to making in-vehicle systems and cooperative infrastructures a reality. The question of whether or not to mandate in-vehicle systems for safety and other applications is a vexed one. There is a presumption on some parts that going down the road of forcing systems' fitment is somehow too domineering or restricting. Others would argue that it is the only realistic way of ensuring that systems achieve widespread d
  • Idris paves the way for loop based speed enforcement
    February 1, 2012
    With the Idris system now validated as a speed verification tool, the way is open for loops to be used in more complex enforcement applications. Diamond Consulting Services (DCS), developer of the Idris inductive loop-based vehicle detection and classification system, has recently successfully conducted validation trials which, the company says, open the way for Idris to be used for speed verification and loop-based sensors to be used for more complex applications such as speed-on-green and differential spe
  • ITS solutions to keep truck traffic moving
    June 8, 2015
    David Crawford reviews freight management initiatives. Managing truck traffic to minimise its environmental impacts, without adversely impacting on its critical economic role, continues to drive ITS-based solutions in both urban and interurban contexts.