More than 200 ITS professionals have attended the first of a series of pre-World Congress showcase events in Melbourne.Focusing on automated vehicles and cooperative ITS, the event staged by ITS Australia was setting the stage for what's to come as Melbourne prepares to host the 23rd ITS World Congress in October.Keynote speakers from the UK, along with other parts of Europe, the US and Asia Pacific shared insights about global technology that is changing the way we use and develop transport technologies.Chief Engineer, Transport, Chin Kian Keong of Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI) placed a focus on envisioning a town with automated vehicles to help combat some of the challenges Singapore faces - such as increasing travel demand, shortage of labour, land constrains and an ageing population.
Also offering expertise at the showcase event was Peter Sweatman, Principal at CAVita and previous Director Michigan Mobility Transformation Centre. Giving life to transformational technology in transportation, Mr Sweatman spoke directly on transformational mobility through connected vehicles and infrastructure, automation and indeed the explosion of interest in everything connected in V2V, V2I and V2X technologies.
Other international speakers included Secretary General ITS Asia Pacific and Chair, International Cooperation Working Group, Hajime Amino, Richard Harris, Solutions Director Xerox and ERTICO, as well as local Australian speakers representing both private and government funded projects.ITS Australia says these networking events are the ideal platform to connect professionals from local and overseas markets. ITS Australia CEO, Susan Harris said, 'Our showcase events are a fantastic way to network with like-minded professionals in the fast moving space that is ITS. Now that we are in the year of the 23rd ITS World Congress, it is particularly important to see major international speakers such as Dr Keong, Mr Sweatman and Mr Harris presenting their work down under, inspiring other leaders and international delegates to come to Melbourne, Australia for the Congress."The next showcases are marked for Brisbane (May) and Sydney (June).Smart Highways editor Paul Hutton will be in Melbourne for the World Congress providing frequent news updates and interviews on the Smart Highways website plus the official World Congress podcasts, so even if you cannot make the trip to Melbourne, you can keep fully up to date with all that goes on through Smart Highways.
