Safer Way to Travel
The Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot is being delivered by TMR to prepare society and road operators for the imminent arrival of cooperative and connected technologies. The project is supported by Queensland University of Technology, the Motor Accident Insurance Commission and iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre. WSP is involved as one of a number of suppliers contributing professional and technical expertise and equipment to the delivery of the Pilot.
Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) Technology
Cooperative vehicles, using C-ITS can ‘talk and listen’ to other cars, infrastructure and traffic management centres. Using an array of sensors as well as 3G and 4G communication, a wide range of data can be collected allowing transport agencies to plan cities more efficiently and effectively. By using a cloud network, millions of messages can be processed every day and transport agencies can receive updated information about road conditions and identify where improvements must be made.
C-ITS messages are evaluated in real-time by vehicles to determine if a warning is displayed to the driver allowing them to see or be warned about what is near them on the road. Drivers can be warned about several things including road works ahead, a change in speed limit, an upcoming red light or a person crossing at a nearby signalised intersection.
Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot
The Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot has been in the planning and development stage since 2017, working to implement a system capable of capturing sufficient data to measure the safety benefits of C-ITS. Currently, the project team is planning for Australia’s largest on-road trial of C-ITS technologies with the involvement of around 500 participants over a 12-month period. The pilot will validate the impacts and benefits of C-ITS use cases, demonstrate evolving technologies to the public, grow TMR’s technical and organisational readiness and encourage partnerships.
WSP has been heavily involved in every stage of this project providing planning professional services, technical leadership and integration management. Staff seconded to the project have been managing the C-ITS central, vehicle and roadside infrastructure along with the supporting systems. We have provided a technical solution for TMR to enable use cases to be tested on-road and all data generated by the pilot to be collected and transformed into meaningful dashboards and reports.
Fundamental to a C-ITS system is the mutual trust of communications between vehicles and infrastructure. C-ITS messages are signed before being sent through a security credential management system aligning with European C-ITS standards.
Safety first
Cooperative and autonomous vehicles drive WSP’s Vision Zero initiative, focusing on preventing all serious injuries and fatalities on the road. Mr Nigel Nielsen, Technical Lead on the project says, “The major upside to these new technologies will be improvements to safety…Where humans fail, systems are there to support us.”
Preparing for the transport revolution
Globally, investments are being made to adapt to the continuous advancements. Work is occurring on connected vehicles at extraordinary rates with the number of vehicles being sold with some level of connectivity rising from five per cent in 2019 to 75 per cent by 2022.
With new mobility options such as cooperative vehicles, automated driving and electric vehicles, cities can be transformed making the logistics of travel simpler, safer and more efficient.
Piloting this C-ITS technology is preparing Queensland for the future of smart mobility. It can support this level of growth in smart mobility being simple and cost effective to add to existing transport infrastructure.
