Skip to main content

ITS Australia: cooperative ITS closer to reality

ITS Australia welcomes recent Australian policy and international standards announcements that pave the way to making connected vehicles a reality and expanding opportunities for Australian innovation. Another important international step toward wireless connectivity for vehicles was the 12 February announcement of technical standards by the European Telecoms Standards Institute (ETSI) and the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). These standards ensure that vehicles made by different European ma
March 7, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
858 ITS Australia welcomes recent Australian policy and international standards announcements that pave the way to making connected vehicles a reality and expanding opportunities for Australian innovation.

Another important international step toward wireless connectivity for vehicles was the 12 February announcement of technical standards by the European Telecoms Standards Institute (ETSI) and the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). These standards ensure that vehicles made by different European manufacturers can communicate with each other.

ITS Australia Chief Executive Officer Susan Harris said this 1690 European Commission announcement and the recent United States Government Department of Transport decision to enable vehicle to vehicle communication technology are timely following the release last December of the Australian National Transport Commission (NTC) Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems Final Policy Paper.

The NTC Final Policy Paper analyses the risks, barriers and potential regulatory reforms required for an Australia wide harmonised platform for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) technologies that will ensure the best safety and efficiency outcomes, and respect the privacy of individuals.

Harris said it was significant that the NTC did not find any legislative roadblocks to the deployment of the technology in Australia. “The Final Policy Paper also identifies a number of areas that require further review.  For example, Recommendations 6 and 7 say that research, based on identified gaps in international research that are relevant to Australia should be conducted,” she continued.  

She went on to say that wireless vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication will help deliver safer and more efficient traffic flows. “It will deliver great community benefits – for drivers, pedestrians, our environment and our economies,” she said.

“The proposed Australian Intelligent Transport Cooperative Research Centre will be ideally placed to leverage off the international work and target research into any gaps identified in applying C-ITS to Australian conditions.

“The recent announcements from Europe and the USA emphasise that C-ITS development is rapidly gaining momentum. Australia must keep pace with international developments to capture the safety, environmental and economic benefits it will deliver.

“The Australian ITS industry has a strong presence in this technology and we must also ensure that our competitive advantage is maintained.

“We need an Intelligent Transport CRC to provide the vital link between industry, research bodies and systems users to ensure that we continue to foster Australian innovation and international opportunities in this growing market,” said Harris.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IBTTA seeks transportation innovation
    December 16, 2016
    IBTTA’s Patrick Jones contemplates the need for, sources of and constraints on transportation innovation. For years now, visionary thinkers and doers in the highway transportation community have been laser-focused on the role of innovation in addressing the most pressing mobility challenges.
  • European Parliament test drives fuel cell vehicles
    October 29, 2012
    The 5th Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Drive ‘n’ Ride event was recently held in Strasbourg, France, under the patronage of Brian Simpson, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and chair of the European Parliament’s transport and tourism committee, to demonstrate the readiness of fuel cells and hydrogen as a viable route to zero emission transport in Europe.
  • C-ITS in Europe: jazz or symphony?
    August 18, 2021
    Communication between vehicles on the road is going to be increasingly important. Richard Lax of Kapsch TrafficCom explains why music is a good guide to the way that this could work safely
  • Ken Leonard talks to ITS International
    August 21, 2014
    Ken Leonard, director of the USDOT’s ITS Joint Program office made time in his schedule during the Helsinki Congress to speak to ITS International. It has been 18 months since Ken Leonard took over as the director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation. With 30 years of technical experience behind him, to say he is enjoying the challenge would be to put it mildly: “It is incredibly exciting to be working in intelligent transportation systems, th