CCAT has had a full July, with events, speaking engagements and National Future Transport Summit preparations keeping the team busy.
Just yesterday, we hosted a webinar with Main Road Western Australia, who presented their C-ITS Roadmap to a large and very engaged online audience. The level of interest in the Roadmap from the Western Australian stakeholder community and beyond shows the importance of communication and collaboration in the development, testing, and implementation of C-ITS technologies. It’s great to see this engagement as Main Roads progresses their work in this area.
I had the opportunity to present on automated trucking to an audience gathered at the National Transport Research Organisation in Melbourne to hear from Pr David Cebon, Director of the UK Centre for Sustainable Road Freight. Discussion was focused on evidence-based strategies to deliver sustainable and resilient freight operations, and opportunities for new approaches in Australia.
The first meeting of the Steering Committee for the National Future Transport Summit was a significant milestone for CCAT as we now move into the delivery phase for the Summit. Members discussed the Summit’s policy focus and scope, engagement approach, and delivery tasks. It’s fantastic to have such a broad representation of transport leaders working towards a common goal of maximising the benefits of connected and automated transport.
We have also just released the details of our latest stakeholder event, which will be held in Brisbane on 3 September. After the success of our Melbourne event last month, we are pleased to be able to deliver another opportunity for stakeholders to come together to learn about the latest developments in future transport, and network with others in the sector. For those in Queensland, I encourage you to register to attend – details are below.
Rahila David
Executive Director, CCAT
CCAT News
Brisbane stakeholder event: Use cases for automated vehicles in Australia
4-6pm Tuesday 3 September
We are proud to announce our next stakeholder event in Brisbane on 3 September.
From long-distance trucking to rural communities, urban environments and numerous non-transport domains, automation is being explored as a way to improve safety, productivity and mobility. This session will feature experts discussing diverse use cases for automated vehicles in Australia, to demonstrate the technology we could see here in the future and the reasons why this technology is considered important.
In addition to insights from leading experts and an engaging panel discussion, this event will include a networking opportunity to connect attendees with other government, industry, academic and community leaders.
National Future Transport Summit - Establishment of Steering Committee
The first Steering Committee meeting for the National Future Transport Summit was held online on 26 July via Teams. The Steering Committee is responsible for providing policy leadership for the Summit; including developing the Summit program and agreed draft sector recommendations. Members are leaders from government and industry; specifically transport agencies, national associations and other key industry players.
The meeting was an important step in agreeing critical components of the Summit. CCAT Chair Ian Webb highlighted that one of the unique challenges of this process is ensuring a collaborative understanding of what the Summit will be amongst diverse stakeholders, and he noted the Steering Committee’s broad understanding and commonality of purpose.
The Steering Committee will continue to meet regularly until the Summit in September 2025. The next stage is to formally establish the Consortium of interested stakeholders, including the establishment of a Policy Sub-Committee. If you would like to be a part of either of these groups, please reach out to CCAT at the link below.
Interactive webinar - Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) Roadmap for WA
On 30 July we partnered with Main Roads WA to deliver an interactive webinar on their recently released C-ITS Roadmap for WA. Cory Ross and Meifang Lai shared a presentation on the Roadmap and participated in an interactive Q&A discussion moderated by CCAT’s Rahila David. The discussion covered the Roadmap’s consideration of international trends and national progress towards C-ITS. In particular, attendees were interested in hearing about the likely use-cases and anticipated process for testing, trials and consumer deployment of vehicle technologies.
We are pleased to welcome the NRMA as a member of CCAT. The NRMA is one of Australia’s largest mutual organisations, representing more than three million members. Over the past five years, the NRMA has had a strong focus on electrification, connectivity and automation, leading legislative, regulatory and funding advancements and domestic trials. The NRMA will bring an invaluable customer-centric view to CCAT.
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has launched a $35 million, five-year investment to accelerate the adoption of machine automation and digital, intelligent technologies by Australian grain growers. The Grain Automate initiative will include a portfolio of up to 30 new research, development and extension investments to complement GRDC’s research in ag tech, precision agriculture, digital agronomy and advanced analytics. A key priority is to ‘pave the way’ for autonomy, to ensure growers have the training, knowledge, skills and infrastructure to integrate fully autonomous machine capabilities within their farming systems.
Guidance for local governments on connected and automated vehicles
Austroads has developed resources for local governments in Australia and New Zealand to help them prepare for connected and automated vehicles. Ten critical areas essential for local governments to effectively prepare for CAV integration are identified, including infrastructure readiness and stakeholder engagement.
eVTOL autonomous aircraft could be coming to Queensland
US developer Wisk Aero is teaming up with Skyports Infrastructure to bring their electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) autonomous aircraft to Queensland. The partnership furthers Wisk’s existing collaboration with the South East Queensland Council of Mayors to work together to introduce an autonomous air taxi service in the region. They will determine several sites for viable vertiports for the take-off and landing of their autonomous eVTOL air taxis – enabling them to take passengers to their destination.
Australian companies developing autonomous haul trucks for mines
Australian mining company Fortescue and Liebherr Mining have partnered to develop fully autonomous zero emission haul trucks – with the aim of being the first autonomous haulage solution (AHS) operating with zero emission vehicles globally. The AHS enables control and coordination of mixed fleets of autonomous vehicles, including autonomous ultra-class mining trucks, autonomous road trains and autonomous light vehicles. It also integrates a fleet management system, which is designed to optimise fleet utilisation and maximise productivity while reducing carbon emissions.
Smart roads readying US transport industry for connected and automated vehicles
US mobility tech company Cavnue has commenced development of a 39 mile ‘Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Corridor’ on an interstate highway in Michigan. Integration and deployment of technology roadside will enable creation of a real-time digital model of road conditions, to support safety improvements and ready the network for automated transport.
Investigating impact of passengers on driver focus in automated cars
A UK study has found that having a passenger in conditionally automated cars can improve driver focus and help with manual control decisions, but could also create more distractions for drivers during periods of automated driving. Drivers were found to also have difficulty with vehicular control immediately after resuming manual driving. The research analysed drivers in a simulation of a Level 3 automated vehicle.
All new vehicles sold in the EU will now be required to have intelligent speed assistance technology (‘speed limiters’) installed, and drivers will no longer be able to override and turn off the technology. The technology will automatically alert the driver if they are exceeding the speed limit, ensuring they are aware of the legal speed limit irrespective of the presence or visibility of road signage.
We continue to engage with experts and stakeholders interested in facilitating the transition to connected and automated transport in Australia and New Zealand. If you would like to know more about CCAT, including information on how to join, you can find further details on our website or email us at info@ccat.org.au to arrange a meeting.
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