Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS), alongside the University of Melbourne and its project partners, have received the ‘Recognition of Excellence’ award from OpenGov Asia for the development of the Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem (AIMES).
Formerly known as the National Connected Multimodal Transport (NCMT) Testbed, AIMES is Australia’s first large-scale, live ecosystem for implementing and testing connected transport technologies.
The award recognizes innovative and disruptive use of technology in the public sector and highlights the use of information communication technology (ICT) to make government smarter, more agile, efficient and transparent. OpenGov is a content platform, dedicated to sharing ICT-related knowledge and information between governments, which is focused on the public sector in the Asia-Pacific region. The award was accepted by Majid Sarvi, professor in transport for smart cities at the University of Melbourne, on behalf of the various AIMES partners.
Since going live in April 2017, the AIMES testbed has been collecting data on public, private, freight, and active transportation to support the strategic decision making in improving traffic planning, public transport efficiency, and pedestrian flows, while paving the way for the introduction of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). Using thousands of intelligent sensors positioned on roads and transportation infrastructure across 2.3 square miles (6 km²) in central Melbourne, the AIMES testbed will provide unprecedented insight on various ways to manage transport systems and road networks more efficiently.
Cubic signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Melbourne in October 2016 to deliver the project. Cubic’s Surface Transport Management Solution platform sits at the core of the testbed, providing an enhanced system for data usage and analysis by transportation planners. Through its cloud-based platform and unique multimodal integration capabilities, Cubic’s platform can connect different systems and data sets to provide planners with a holistic real-time view of travel across the entire network.
“We are delighted that OpenGov Asia recognized the merits and promise of the AIMES testbed and wishes to congratulate the University of Melbourne and all our project partners on a job well done,” said Tom Walker, senior vice president and managing director of CTS Asia-Pacific. “AIMES is a vital ecosystem for testing new connective technologies, and it has been providing tangible benefits to all stakeholders from the day it was first implemented.”
