Furry and scaly things in the exhibition, some thoughts on the "Uberisation" of the world and details of an exciting autonomous project being worked on by Mott MacDonald are among the features in the third Countdown to Congress which is now online for download or streaming.Produced and presented by Smart Highways Editor Paul Hutton, it is one of four preview podcasts in the run-up to the event, ahead of four more daily shows every day at the Congress in Melbourne.In this programme, ITS Australia's CEO Susan Harris previews the exhibition, while Miller Crockart of PTV Group talks about smart cities and automation with a reminder 'it's the software, stupid.'  We hear more from Australian ITS guru Peter Sweatman and also from Michigan DoT Director Kirk Steudle about how ITS differs around the world and Ken Cowan from Mott MacDonald tells us about an exciting driverless rapid transit solution. Add to that Vice President of ITS Australia Dean Zabrieszach's guide to Melbourne and you have another fascinating 25 minutes of industry chat as we countdown to congress.You can hear the podcast here: http://www.itsworldcongress2016.com/media-releases/audioThese podcasts are possible thanks to the sponsorship of Cubic Transportation Systems, Mott MacDonald, PTV Group, Swarco, Jenoptik, Xerox, MVIS/Bartco and GTT Global Traffic Technologies.  Remember Smart Highways will be posting regular news stories from the World Congress, in addition to Paul's daily podcasts.