Skip to main content

New Zealand launches Bluetooth ITS trial

A trial using wireless communications technology to deliver real-time traffic information has been launched by New Zealand’s Ministry of Transport and ITS consultants AraFlow. The Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems trial will investigate whether providing accurate real-time information about traffic conditions to participating commercial transport operators improves the productivity of freight movements. Ministry of Transport Chief Executive Martin Matthews says “We are testing whether this informat
June 13, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A trial using wireless communications technology to deliver real-time traffic information has been launched by New Zealand’s Ministry of Transport and ITS consultants 7385 AraFlow.

The Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems trial will investigate whether providing accurate real-time information about traffic conditions to participating commercial transport operators improves the productivity of freight movements.

Ministry of Transport Chief Executive Martin Matthews says “We are testing whether this information allows better travel planning decisions, saves money by avoiding congestion and road traffic incidents, and reduces the time required to transport goods”.

Running until April 2014, the trial will involve commercial vehicles travelling on State Highway 2 between Auckland and Tauranga, and along selected alternative routes.

Bluetooth traffic sensors will collect anonymous data on average speeds between fixed points, overall journey times, traffic incidents and congestion. The real-time data collected will be fed back to drivers through dedicated roadside transmitters and in-cab units, and to transport operators through the password protected AraFlow website.

“This trial is unique in delivering up-to-the-minute data to commercial vehicles, and we are keen to see if this provides advantages over other existing sources of traffic information,” Mr Matthews said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Progressing work zone safety systems
    February 1, 2012
    David Crawford investigates progress in a key safety area - work zones. Highway construction zone safety is taken seriously enough in the US to merit a special spring National Work Zone Awareness Week, which in 2010 ran from 19-23 April. Headed by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), this aims to reduce an annual toll of work zone deaths - 720 in 2008 (an average of one every 10 hours) with more than 40,000 traffic injuries (an average of one every 13 minutes).
  • Progressing work zone safety systems
    February 6, 2012
    David Crawford investigates progress in a key safety area - work zones
  • Intersection collision avoidance system trial
    January 31, 2012
    Although much of the emphasis of research into intersection management has tended to concentrate on the needs of urban locations, there remain specific issues pertaining to rural intersections which need to be addressed. Here, Rebecca Szymkowski and Greg Helgeson, Wisconsin DOT, Todd Szymkowski, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Craig Shankwitz and Arvind Menon, University of Minnesota detail progress on an intersection collision avoidance system for more remote locations.
  • Kapsch outlines tolling options to combat traffic congestion
    January 11, 2017
    Michael Maitland from Kapsch TrafficCom looks at how the various forms of tolling can help authorities combat traffic congestion and air quality problems while simultaneously raising revenue.