Skip to main content

Safety After Dark trials for Sydney

Innovation Challenge seeks tech solutions making mobility safer for women
By David Arminas September 14, 2020 Read time: 1 min
South East Light Rail tram station at Town Hall in Sydney, Australia (© Bundit Minramun/Dreamstime)

Transport for New South Wales said it will trial data and technology solutions aimed at improving safety for women travelling at night in Greater Sydney.

Projects include artificial intelligence in CCTV to automate the detection of threatening behaviours, using datasets and algorithms to create routing that prioritises safety and a new platform for public safety and assistance.

The trials last six months, said Andrew Constance, minister for transport in the Australian state. They follow an announcement by the state’s transportation agency of the winners in the Safety After Dark Innovation Challenge.

The four winners are the University of Wollongong; data sharing platform She’s a Crowd; safety technology expert Guardian LifeStream; and Cardno/UNSW.

Transport for NSW said it had received 44 entries for the competition and the winners were selected by a panel after a virtual pitch event.

“The winners were chosen for their potential to meaningfully address real safety issues, and their ability to use creative and sophisticated new technologies to make a real difference,” Constance said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Optibus and Ito World plan ahead
    September 26, 2022
    Software and routing specialists get together to create 'more efficient' public transport
  • Lime links with SafeUp in US
    December 2, 2021
    Community network can use free micromobility options to get to women who feel unsafe
  • Milestone for Opal smart cards in Sydney
    August 1, 2013
    Public transport passengers in Sydney, Australia, have enthusiastically welcomed the city’s new Opal smart card, being progressively rolled out across ferries, trains, buses and light rail in the greater Sydney area, with 10,000 already issued since trials began in December 2012. By 2015 the Opal system, being installed by the Cubic-led Pearl Consortium for Transport New South Wales, will cover 42 ferry wharves, more than 300 train stations and more than 5,000 buses and light rail systems.
  • Women in ITS: "You can’t be what you can’t see"
    March 4, 2025
    Bias – unconscious or otherwise – is a major problem when it comes to ensuring that ITS businesses reflect the diversity of the talent pool available to them. But there are practical solutions to challenges which have made the playing field uneven…