Advanced Connected Vehicles Victoria (ACV2) Trial
The ACV2 trial was led by Telstra and Lexus Australia with funding from the Towards Zero CAV Trial Grant program. The trial investigated the potential road safety benefits of “Cellular Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X)” technology.
The trial allowed two Lexus cars to connect directly to each other and, through cloud servers, to traffic management centres and other services. The vehicles used the 4G network to communicate with the cloud, and a new cellular technology for direct vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications. The direct V2V communication enables the transmission of urgent safety messages without relying on network coverage. The trial ran from 2018 to 2020.
In addition to helping us understand the potential road safety benefits, the trial also provided learnings around the use of C-V2X to enable Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) without the installation of roadside infrastructure by VicRoads. C-ITS has the potential to improve the safety and efficiency of the network, and reduce congestion and vehicle emissions.
See the media release: Leading The Way In Connected And Automated Vehicles
Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Highway Pilot (HWP) trial on Victorian rural roads
The CAV HWP trial was led by Bosch Australia with funding from the Towards Zero CAV Trial Grant Program. Building on previous work by Bosch and the TAC in developing a highly automated driving (HAD) prototype system, this trial expanded the operational domain of its HAD system to Victorian rural roads.
Bosch has developed its system to handle unique aspects of the Victorian road environment including road conditions, such as topography and roadside flora (and fauna!), and infrastructure treatments such as safety barriers, lane markings and road signs.
The conditions existing on our roads need to be considered in the development of CAVs for the Australian market and the outcomes of this project enable VicRoads to better understand the challenges associated with the operation of automated vehicles specifically on Victorian rural roads.
Insights generated from the Bosch trial will form a body of knowledge to inform road infrastructure planning decisions going forward that will enable the introduction of these potentially life-saving technologies as soon as they are commercially available. Bosch has also been awarded the first Automated Driving System (ADS) permit for the purpose of conducting this trial. The ADS permit scheme became operational in 2018 and is managed by VicRoads’ Vehicle and Motorcycling Policy team. The Bosch project commenced in 2018 with the project scheduled to conclude in 2020. See the media release here.
Omni-Aware trial of automated vehicle perception equipped intersection
A consortium called Omni-Aware conducted a trial of connected and automated vehicle (CAV) perception technology installed at an intersection to better understand the potential of this technology to help prevent crashes on our roads. Using funding from the Towards Zero Connected and Automated Vehicle Trial Grant Program, Omni-Aware installed cameras and light detection and ranging sensors (LIDARs) at one crash hotspot intersection to detect all road users, including vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, building a complete picture of the intersection and road user movements and conflicts.
This comprehensive set of data was collected over a six month period from December 2019 to May 2020, providing backbox functionality allowing VicRoads to closely analyse factors that contributed to any crashes or near misses and see how these incidents could be prevented in the future.
This ‘proof of concept’ system also investigated the potential for this technology to be used in real time to predict, and help to prevent, crashes by linking with connected and automated vehicles, for example, when vehicles are too close and there is the risk of a crash.
This project will assess the extent to which deploying automated vehicle technology on road will allow more road users to benefit from the technology sooner.
See the VicRoad’s announcement here.
These trials under the Towards Zero CAV Trial Grants Program were funded by the TAC and VicRoads and managed by VicRoads’ Safer Vehicles and Future Vehicle Technology team as a part of the Victorian Government’s Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy.
For any enquiries, please contact [email protected]
ITS Grants Program
In March 2016, we advertised the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Grants Program as part of the Victorian Government's $13.3 million Smarter Journeys Program.
The government worked with transport technology and industry partners to undertake congestion-busting trials.
The ITS Grants Program saw industry leaders work with transport bodies to improve traffic management and flow on Victoria’s roads, trialling new and emerging technologies and looking at ways we can improve traveller information. CCTV cameras and Variable Message Signs were also installed to help improve real-time congestion management and better manage road works to seeking community feedback preferred modes of transport on particular routes.
The three successful projects that were selected aimed to give drivers more control over their journey by reducing congestion, improving integration between different forms of transport and providing information so people can make alternative transport choices.
Details of these projects are provided below.
ARRB, Connect East and La Trobe University
Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) in partnership with Connect East and La Trobe University are preparing Victoria for the future of automated vehicles by enabling roadside infrastructure such as traffic lights and electronic speed signs to communicate with vehicles.
ARBB, Yarra Trams and La Trobe University
ARRB in partnership with Yarra Trams and La Trobe University trialled a signalling system to give trams priority at intersections with traffic lights.
Intelematics
Intelematics will use technology to allow vehicles to pass through consecutive waves of green lights and send messages about the state of the traffic via GPS and smart phone applications to enable road users to make smarter decisions about their journey.
Bosch Highly Automated
We’ve partnered with Bosch and the TAC to build a research and development vehicle with highly automated driving capabilities (level 4).
The TAC has funded the development of the vehicle, which has been designed to navigate roads with or without driver input and includes technology to detect and avoid hazards such as pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles.
The vehicle features:
- Highly automated mode on motorways including high resolution network maps and overtaking of other vehicles
- Advanced human machine interface to enable hand-over of control between the driver and the vehicle
- Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), forward facing radar and cameras, rearward radar and satellite positioning for future development of highly automated driving on other parts of the road network. VicRoads will use the vehicle to better understand Victoria’s transition to highly automated vehicles, including:
- Assessment of Victoria’s infrastructure suitability for highly automated driving
- Evaluation of driver responses to highly automated vehicles
- Performance evaluations of highly automated driving
Read the media release - Victoria leads the way with self driving vehicles