Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has announced that it will support the Australian iMOVE Cooperative Research Center (CRC) in its efforts to develop future technologies for smart transport and mobility in the country.
The CRC has been established to help address the growing pressure on Australia’s transportation systems caused by population growth and aging infrastructure.
Last month the Australian federal government announced that it was awarding the Center a 10-year grant worth A$55m (US$41.2m) that will help fund its research and development efforts that are aimed at reducing congestion, enhancing freight productivity, and creating a more seamless multimodal travel experience for passengers. The iMOVE CRC is being supported by a collaborative consortium of industry and technology innovators, as well as national and state governments and academia.
CTS is a leading integrator of payment, information technology, and management services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. As part of the CRC, Cubic aims to address the lack of coordination between the various transport systems in Australia through the development of advanced multimodal transportation management systems that can tackle complex and costly congestion.
The company will provide aid to the CRC and Australian government by identifying and reducing traffic congestion using ‘big data’ and predictive analytics. CTS is already involved in the Australian market, where it operates Sydney’s Transport Management Center and transit payment system for Transport NSW, as well as the National Connected Multimodal Transport (NCMT) testbed project in Melbourne.
“Transport is the backbone of our economy. As a country, we will fall behind if we cannot find ways to move our people and goods more effectively and efficiently,” said Ian Christensen, bid lead for iMOVE CRC. “Our roads are congested and our transport systems are not coordinated and it’s getting worse in many cases. The establishment of the iMOVE CRC gives us an immediate opportunity to tackle this situation, by harnessing the power of ‘big data,’ developing smarter solutions, and engaging with the community to trial and deploy new technologies.”
Tom Walker, SVP and managing director of CTS-Asia Pacific, noted, “We want to provide a system that gives a holistic, multimodal network view, while using big data and predictive analytics to identify where congestion is likely to occur and how we can reduce it. We are excited by the opportunities presented by iMOVE and look forward to working with the CRC and its partners to develop world-leading intelligent transport technologies.”
