The ninth annual Intelligent Transport Systems’ (ITS) National Awards have highlighted excellence in the intelligent transport systems industry.
The awards recognise professional ITS expertise, and raise awareness across all levels of government and community about the benefits of ITS technology to cities and communities, the economy, environment, transportation and everyday lives.
The awards reflect the continued growth of ITS across transport technology and the wider industry.
The 2018 ITS Australia National Awards winners are:
Max Lay Lifetime Achievement Award: Brian Negus — Mr Negus was a Director of ITS Australia for 12 years from 2007, and for six of those, he was President. Mr Negus is now ITS Australia Ambassador, representing ITS Australia nationally and internationally.
Government Award Winner: Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads — for Successfully Integrating and Leveraging Off Multiple ITS Technologies to Perform Real-Time Performance Metrics and Analytics for the Commonwealth Games.
Industry Award Winner: EastLink— for the Freeway Tunnel Ventilation On-Demand System.
Automated Vehicle Award Winner: Centre for Technology Infusion, La Trobe University — for The Autonobus Pilot Project.
Research Award Winner: Advanced Data Analytics in Transport, Data61 CSIRO — for an Artificial Intelligence Engine for Traffic Congestion Management Project
Young Professional Award Winner: Michael Cybulski, Retina Visions.
ITS Australia also recognised runner-up Young ITS Professionals, Jonathan Coulson, Solutions Engineer at VITRONIC Australia, Andrew Hooley, Senior Project Office in the Smart Innovation Centre at Transport for NSW, and Mikaela Stewart, Systems Engineer at Cubic Transportation Systems, for their demonstrated dedication to the industry, and passion for their chosen fields — aspects that are valued and encouraged by ITS Australia.
Dean Zabrieszach, ITS Australia President, said, “Australian ITS is a significant industry sector, and one that is growing with the advent of not just smart cars, but smart communities.
“ITS Australia is internationally recognised as world-leading, and brings together industry, government, multinational corporations, start-ups and research organisations to help shape future transport. We have again seen through these awards that the ITS industry in Australia is making progress that is equal, if not surpassing, some of our overseas counterparts.
“The ITS Australia National Awards are a great opportunity to reflect on the innovative nature of Australian technology development, and we congratulate the winners, and all the nominees, in 2018.”
ITS Australia Chief Executive, Susan Harris, said the 2018 ITS Australia National Awards capped off another strong year for the industry.
“It was a very competitive year, and we thank the judging panel for its comprehensive review of all the submissions,” she said.
“We were delighted to receive a record number of nominations from a variety of organisations for this year’s awards, and in particular, it was pleasing to see the interest and depth of our Young Professional nominations — the future is bright for our next general of ITS leaders.
“My congratulations to the winners and the industry as a whole for the successes of the last 12 months, and we look forward to another exciting and productive year in 2019.”
