As the last act in the week when more than 11,000 international ITS leaders attended the 23rd ITS World Congress, the host, ITS Australia, held its 2016 National Awards event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
More than 270 ITS professionals gathered to recognize their peers for outstanding contributions to the Australian ITS industry and communities around the country. The Awards were presented by ITS Australia’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, and the winners were:
Max Lay Lifetime Achievement Award – Ian Oxworth, who is responsible for the implementation and operation of EastLink’s 26 toll points and all other ITS systems. As project director, he innovated complex projects such as the transition of the Eastlink tunnel to a fully automated ventilation on demand system, and helped to develop standards for the introduction of autonomous vehicles in Australia. Previously, Oxworth worked with TransLink on the development of one of the world’s first multi-lane free-flow tolling systems;
Industry Award – Here, for its Open Location Platform (OLP), which provides a virtual representation of the real world to enable governments to better plan and manage road and street assets, providing safer, more efficient and environmental sustainable transport systems for all Australians;
Government Award – South Australia’s Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) for ‘Addinsight’ (above), which is a smartphone app and incident detection system that uses Bluetooth technology to connect to motorists’ phones, providing verbal, real-time alerts via its loudspeaker, hands-free kit or car stereo, warning about unforeseen or unplanned traffic delays, and is a first step toward providing information from road-side infrastructure into a vehicle without the need for any specific in-car hardware being installed;
Automated Vehicle Award, sponsored by the Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI) (new award for 2016) – South Australia’s DPTI, for the first Southern Hemisphere Driverless Vehicle demonstration and legislation for on-road trials conducted in November 2015, which resulted in legislation acknowledged internationally as best practice to support innovators and on-road trials, and the development of policies that have to be considered, such as liability and compulsory third party insurance;
Research Award – University of Adelaide’s Center for Automotive Safety Research (below), for their study into demonstrating how safety benefits of connected vehicle technology is calculated by applying a collision avoidance system model to simulations of around 100 real-world crashes to determine the change in impact speed, and highlighted how an improvement in positioning accuracy could be tuned to be more effective for incidents such as head-on crashes;
Young Professional Award for under 30 years of age – went to Benjamin Hanly, project engineer from SICE, a Spanish multi-national systems integrator, with a Certificate of Achievement going to Candice Robinson an assistant engineering manager with AD Engineering International.
ITS Australia’s CEO, Susan Harris, said, “Our annual National Awards are significant in recognizing enduring commitment, rewarding current achievements, and promoting future talent. Congratulations to our 2016 nominees and Award winners. In addition to the prestigious title and prizes, winners of the Industry and Government Award will be nominated by ITS Australia for the 2017 ITS World Congress Achievement Award.”
