ITS Australia is hailing the success of this year’s annual Australian Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Summit, which, with over 800 attendees, broke attendance records for a smart transportation event in the country.
Held at the end of August at the International Convention Centre in Sydney, the Summit was hosted by ITS Australia, in partnership with NSW government and Roads and Maritime Services (RMS). At the record-breaking event, ITS leaders from Asia-Pacific, Europe and the USA joined the Australian smart transport community to explore current and future technologies and topics, including connected and automated vehicles (CAV), cybersecurity, ride-share, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and AI (artificial intelligence).
The ITS Summit included more than 100 Australian and international speakers, with keynote presentations from government, international and local industry leaders all supported by a strong exhibition, technical tours, and business opportunities.
“The Summit theme, ‘Shaping Future Transport’, reflects the rapidly changing transport landscape of today while introducing future mobility technologies,” said Dean Zabrieszach, president of ITS Australia.
“The ITS industry continues to expand and reach into new industry segments, and increasingly plays a vital role in the safety, efficiency and sustainability of freight and people movement. Technology is changing so fast that it not only presents opportunities to enhance the liveability of our cities and communities, it also creates new and future business opportunities. Australia has the capability to capitalize on all of these.”
ITS Australia’s chief executive, Susan Harris, added, “The strength of the industry was reflected in the attendance, and the opportunities the event provided to progress the implementation of smart transport in Australia. We have heard some fresh ideas and concepts this year at the ITS Summit.
“There have been some presentations delivering controversial angles generating interesting debate and on occasion challenging the status quo. This is refreshing for the industry that likes to have its thinking challenged, ensuring we are heading in the right direction. We look forward to promoting and facilitating the collaboration and partnering among industry, government and academia in researching developing and deploying ITS technologies over the next 25 years.”
Tom Walker, senior vice president and managing director for the APAC region at Cubic Transportation Systems, noted, “I firmly believe that events like this week’s Summit play a critical role in driving Australia’s transportation agenda forward through promoting discussion and debate about emerging ITS trends. In addition to having six Cubic speakers selected to present, the event offered an excellent opportunity to hear from a range of industry leaders on an array of topics including MaaS, CAVs, data and infrastructure connectivity.”
Visiting from the UK, Daniel Ruiz, chief executive of Meridian Mobility, commented, “I am pleased to be in Australia representing the UK’s government and industry investors in connected and autonomous transport; sharing what we are doing in the UK, and discovering how we can work together to deliver the safety and economic benefits offered by new mobility systems and services. I was very impressed by the large number of attendees at this year’s Summit, and I see this event as a key opportunity for international organizations to share business ideas and opportunities.”
