Skip to main content

Australia’s largest intelligent vehicle trial to be held in Queensland

Queensland is preparing for driverless and connected vehicles with ambitious plans underway for a four-year on-road testing trial in Australia as part of the Cooperative and Automated Vehicle Initiative (CAVI) to ensure the State is ready for the future. The government has chosen the urban area of Ipswich as the site of the large-scale test-bed to trial vehicles and infrastructure that can talk to one another as well as to test cooperative and highly-automated vehicles. Around 500 motorists will be recru
November 25, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Queensland is preparing for driverless and connected vehicles with ambitious plans underway for a four-year on-road testing trial in Australia as part of the Cooperative and Automated Vehicle Initiative (CAVI) to ensure the State is ready for the future. The government has chosen the urban area of Ipswich as the site of the large-scale test-bed to trial vehicles and infrastructure that can talk to one another as well as to test cooperative and highly-automated vehicles.

Around 500 motorists will be recruited to take part who will have their vehicles retrofitted with cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) technology, which provides safety warnings to the driver about a range of conditions, such as a pedestrian crossing at a signalised intersection, a red light runner or a queue ahead that isn’t visible to a driver.

Announcing the trials, Main Roads and Road Safety Minister Mark Bailey said, “Our interest in testing these vehicles is to help understand the implications for our infrastructure and drivers, and the improvements to automated vehicle performance when the vehicle can talk to other vehicles and infrastructure.

“These rapidly developing technologies have the potential to significantly reduce crashes and crash-related gridlock, as well as reduce vehicle emissions and fuel use over coming decades.

“While industry is leading the development of advanced vehicle technologies, the success of these will rely upon connecting to our existing traffic systems.”

311 Bosch Australia’s Mark Jackman said the Bosch highly automated driving vehicle, which is co-sponsored by the Victorian government, will be used in trials and demonstrations across Australia to assist government and its agencies to prepare for when these cars become commercially available.

The CAVI project is co-funded by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission. It will be delivered with the support of a number of organisations including Ipswich City Council, Bosch Australia and QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q). Additional industry partners will be announced as the project moves through a market engagement process.

On road testing is expected to occur in the year 2019.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Radar effective as detection tool for hard shoulder running
    July 23, 2012
    Navtech Radar's millimetric-wave systems are being researched on the M42 in England to look into how this type of detector can assist in the opening of the hard shoulder as an additional running lane. Here, the company's Stephen Clark talks about the technology being used. In England, the Highways Agency's (the HA, an executive agency of the Department for Transport) Managed Motorways system - formerly called Active Traffic Management - uses electronic signs and signals mounted on gantries to direct drivers
  • Vaisala: Weather data is vital for connected vehicles
    August 26, 2016
    Vaisala’s Dr Kevin Petty explains why the weather will continue to play a big part in road safety and traffic management in the smart cities of the future. The world is becoming increasingly connected. Thanks to advances in information and communications technology, the cities we live in are becoming ‘smart’, with everything from education to law enforcement managed by integrated tech solutions in a bid to improve quality of life.
  • Report recommends road user charging for all Australia’s roads
    September 24, 2014
    A new review by the commissioned by the Australian Federal Government and chaired by University of Melbourne economics professor Ian Harper makes a strong case for what it calls ‘cost-reflective road pricing’. The 313 page review of competition policy in Australia says the advent of new technology presents opportunities to improve the efficiency of road transport in ways that were unattainable two decades ago. Linking road user charges to road construction, maintenance and safety should make road investm
  • Visionstream secures Australian motorways project
    February 11, 2013
    Visionstream Australia (Visionstream) is to deliver the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) and communications infrastructure for the Westgate Freeway Managed Motorway Project under the National Smart Managed Motorways Program. The US$21.5 million contract includes design and construction of the ITS system and an operations and maintenance component for two years. Under the contract, Visionstream will be undertaking the design, supply, installation and integration of ITS devices including lane use signs, va