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

  • Breaking the bias: Making public transport safer for women
    October 3, 2022
    Understanding the lived experiences of women using mass transit systems worldwide will help drive positive change, argue Louise Ribet and Naomi Grant from WhereIsMyTransport
  • UK university project paves the way for smarter cities and autonomous cars
    February 1, 2016
    The new i-Motors project, led by academics from the University of Nottingham’s Geospatial Institute and Human Factors Research Group and digital technology company Control F1, aims to build a mobile platform that allows vehicles of different manufacturers and origins to transfer and store data. The project, which has received a US$1.9 million award from the UK’s innovation agency Innovate UK sets out to establish a set of universal standards on how vehicles communicate with each other, and with other ma
  • Inrix informs FHWA’s data improvements
    December 19, 2017
    Refinements in the data available from the US Federal Highway Administration will improve road management across America. David Crawford reports. In August 2017, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued the first results from an upgraded version of its National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS). Developed to identify the locations and times of high congestion affecting traffic flows along America’s 259,000km (161,000 mile) national highway system, this is a key resource for sta
  • Dundee trial offers insight into delivering MaaS in smaller urban and rural areas
    March 27, 2018
    A MaaS trial in Scotland will evaluate the attraction of such services for young people living in small cities and rural areas. Colin Sowman reports. It is often said that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is fine in big cities - but what about smaller towns and rural areas? Well, the city of Dundee in Scotland has only around 150,000 people but is set to provide some answers with its trial of NaviGoGo, a MaaS operation aimed at 16-25 year olds – be they students, working or unemployed. By population, Dundee