iMOVE CRC partners with QLD Govt on vehicle safety trial

The Queensland Government has partnered on an on-road vehicle safety trial with iMOVE CRC, a consortium of 45 industry, government and research partners engaged in a 10-year effort to improve Australia’s transport systems, through collaborative research and development programs.
Through the new research project, Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads, iMOVE CRC and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will seek to validate the effectiveness of emerging vehicle technologies.
The research is being conducted as part of the Queensland Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) Pilot Project, Australia’s largest on-road testing trial of cooperative vehicles and infrastructure.
The approximately 500 private and fleet vehicles taking part in the trial will be retrofitted with C-ITS devices that enable vehicles to vehicles, infrastructure, road operations systems and cloud-based data-sharing systems.
The devices will provide safety warnings to drivers for a range of hazards, including pedestrian crossings and queues, explained Mark Bailey, Minister for Transport and Main Roads – Queensland.
“Our interest in testing these vehicles is to help understand the implications for our infrastructure and drivers, and the improvements to automated vehicle performance when the vehicles are connected to each other, infrastructure and transport systems.” he said. “These rapidly developing technologies have the potential to significantly reduce crashes and crash-related gridlock, as well as reduce vehicle emissions and fuel use over coming decades.”
Professor Andry Rakotonirainy, from QUT’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland, which is conducted the safety evaluation component of the trial, added that the vehicles will be fitted out with various wireless and sensor technologies.
“Validating the effectiveness of C-ITS for safer, and more efficient, transport in a real environment will be examined as part of this project, as well as analysing driver behaviour, acceptance of, and willingness to use, the technology,” he said.
The 3.5-year project will commence with a design and equipment-testing phase, and a nine-month on-road trial will take place in Ipswich, Queensland, in 2019.