Lexus Australia recently offered a glimpse into the future of safer urban mobility with a cooperative ITS (C-ITS) demonstration in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.
The company is working with ITS Australia, the Queensland State Government Department of Transport and Main Roads and key industry partners to showcase a new way for vehicles to protect vulnerable road users (VRUs). These include pedestrians, cyclists, young children and the elderly, all of whom contribute disproportionately to Australia’s road fatality rate. Of the 1,106 road fatalities in 2020, 12% were pedestrians, 17% motorcyclists and 4% cyclists.
Lexus Australia said the company and its partners are advancing urban mobility by prioritizing safety and inclusivity, with the goal of creating a safer, more efficient, more productive, more sustainable and more accessible transport system.
Lexus also said its partners are not limited to vehicle manufacturers and governments, but represent a broader initiative from all parts of the engineering world to deliver safer systems for our society.
Commsignia is a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) provider for infrastructure, automobiles and vulnerable road users. Bosch Security & Safety Systems Australia offers video-based deep learning detection cameras. HMI Technologies specialises in road management. Aptella is a specialist in intelligent automation, positioning and mapping technologies.
During the demonstrations, participants experienced – from the comfort of a new Lexus retrofitted with the latest C-ITS technology – how “cooperative awareness” and “collective perception” can enable real-time information sharing between “connected” and “unconnected” road users. This can improve driver alertness and safety for motorcyclists and pedestrians.
For the demonstrations – part of the recent ITS Australia Summit – the phases of C-ITS development were divided into “days” based on system capacity. The first day focused on shared awareness. Vehicles and infrastructure can exchange and receive information about themselves.
The second day was about shared perception. Vehicles and infrastructure can collect, share and receive information about their surroundings.
The third day was about common intentions, where vehicles and infrastructure coordinate their behavior.
Participants learned how C-ITS can reduce the number of accidents at intersections through cooperative attention, protect cyclists with ultra-lightweight DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) systems, predict pedestrian movements and avoid collisions through collective perception using integrated camera analysis, and digitally manage road space with intelligent traffic alerts.
Lexus said its initiative was in line with Australia’s National Road Transport Technology Strategy and set a global benchmark by demonstrating how collaborative and automated transport technologies can improve social, environmental and economic wellbeing. “Lexus is committed to achieving mobility with zero fatalities and injuries from road crashes around the world,” said John Pappas, CEO of Lexus Australia.
“Cooperative intelligent transport systems play an important role in achieving this goal. We are proud to be involved in pioneering trials in Australia where Lexus vehicles will share safety messages with infrastructure and vehicles,” Pappas said. “Importantly, by working with stakeholders we can explore the best technologies for Australian conditions.”
“This project shows how existing technology can improve road user safety,” said Susan Harris, chief executive of ITS Australia, noting that there is still work to be done to find out how to accelerate adoption to improve safety across the country’s transport network.
