Skip to main content

Hot topics at ITS Australia conference

The challenges of congested city transport systems and safety were the hot topics at the intelligent transport systems (ITS) business exchange conference held recently in Melbourne featuring speakers and delegates from Asia, Australia, Europe, USA and New Zealand. Hosted by ITS Australia, the conference attracted 200 participants from seven nations and facilitated an international exchange about innovative technologies and successfully deployed solutions to major transport issues across public, private a
May 15, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
The challenges of congested city transport systems and safety were the hot topics at the intelligent transport systems (ITS) business exchange conference held recently in Melbourne featuring speakers and delegates from Asia, Australia, Europe, USA and New Zealand.

Hosted by 858 ITS Australia, the conference attracted 200 participants from seven nations and facilitated an international exchange about 4448 Innovative Technologies and successfully deployed solutions to major transport issues across public, private and freight transport modes.

ITS Australia chief executive officer Susan Harris said most speakers agreed that transport congestion in large metropolitan centres is a major challenge. “ITS solutions that address road traffic congestion and promote other transport modes were a focus of discussion at the conference,” Susan Harris said.

“A second key topic was the harmonisation of international standards. The globalisation of the transportation industry can enable faster and lower cost deployment of technologies when systems platforms are standardised,” she said.

Speakers on the topic of harmonisation included 556 ITS Japan chief executive Officer Hajime Amano who predicted that in Japan vehicles are becoming part of the energy supply system. He noted the need to better understand how vehicles will integrate into holistic energy networks to ensure future transport sustainability and highlighted the emergence of connected and automated vehicles in Japan, with automated vehicles expected to be implemented in controlled environments by 2020.

Also promoting harmonisation, 4155 TTS Italia secretary general Olga Landolfi said a key objective in the 1816 European Union is to standardise platforms so transport systems can operate seamlessly across borders.

560 ITS America president and chief executive officer Scott Belcher identified three main challenges to move ITS solutions to the next level: Connect to the cloud to bring outside content into the vehicle; Adopt the standards required to prevent crashes with vehicle to vehicle communication; Continue development of autonomous vehicles to enhance transport safety and sustainability.

Singapore 918 Land Transport Authority Director Alan Quek said his government has a strong focus on test bed collaboration to support research addressing traffic mobility challenges and autonomous vehicles. They are planning to implement next generation road pricing, launch an autonomous bus trial and are working to harness the power of crowd sourced data and big data analytics.

Technology providers here and Intelematics reported on their solutions leveraging probe data to enhance future traffic services, exploding the prevalence of internet connected vehicles with the next model round to deliver advanced traveller information services to drivers.  

The conference also saw the confirmation of the cooperative relationship between TTS Italia and ITS Australia with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations at a ceremony prior to the conference.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Navya showcases Autonom cab in Paris
    November 10, 2017
    Navya has unveiled its Autonom Cab (AC) in Paris to address challenges urban populations face when travelling in and around cities. The cab, designed to be completely autonomous, comes without a cockpit, steering wheel or pedals and can carry up to six passengers. It is capable of speeds up to 90km/h, but will average towards 50km/h to conform with local speed limits. The Navya app enables users to order an AC and open and close the vehicle’s doors to start it up. The cab is also capable of pre-empting
  • America fires V2V starting gun
    April 7, 2014
    Leo McCloskey, ITS America’s senior vice president for Technical Programs, talks to Jason Barnes about what the recent NHTSA ruling on light vehicle connectivity means for cooperative infrastructures in North America. In early February the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it had decided to start taking steps to enable Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication technology for light vehicles. In so doing, the many safety-related applicati
  • Tesla crash in China puts autonomous cars in the spotlight again
    August 11, 2016
    Tesla is investigating the crash in Beijing, China last week, when a Tesla Model S in autopilot mode hit the side of a parked car. According to Reuters, Tesla said it had reviewed data to confirm the car was in autopilot mode, a system that takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions. Tesla also said it was the driver's responsibility to maintain control of the vehicle. In this case, it said, the driver's hands were not detected on the steering wheel. "The driver of the Tesla, whose h
  • Deadlines approach for Europe’s automatic crash alert system
    September 15, 2016
    The EU-co-funded I_ HeERO (Infrastructure_ Harmonised eCall European Pilot) project is working to ensure the readiness of national networks of call centres - known as public safety answering posts (PSAPs) - to deal with automated crash alerts arriving via the continent-wide 112 emergency phone number. Following on from its HeERO and HeERO2 pre-deployment predecessors, which enjoyed €16m (US$17.76m) in EU funding, the new initiative runs from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017. It has €30.9 million (US$34.