Transurban to drive hi-tech roads research: Scott Charlton

Projects to develop hi-tech road safety solutions are being bankrolled by Transurban.

Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

Projects to develop a road that can tell drivers to slow down, can recognise how many people are in a car or create a blanket-like cover for roadside wire rope barriers to protect motorcyclists in accidents are being bankrolled by Transurban as part of the next stage of the toll-road giant’s multi-million-dollar innovation agenda.

Chief executive Scott Charlton will announce today that the company is supporting research on three projects under its innovation grants program that could bring big future safety and motorway management benefits to the nation’s roads.

The group has also struck an alliance in the US with global start-up incubator 1776, known as the Transurban Smart Highways Challenge, which is leveraging the benefits of new technologies into the areas of vehicle monitoring, smart transportation and road safety.

One of those projects relates to image recognition of the number of occupants in a car, which can help in the monitoring of peak-hour lanes on motorways, but could also have future applications for road user pricing models.

Transurban is working with 1776 to identify start-ups to work with the toll-road company’s innovation lab over the remainder of the year.

“We are trying to explore a number of different ways to embrace technology because it is changing so fast. What is the best way to get the most value for our investment dollars,’’ Mr Charlton told The Australian.

He said the toll-road group was less focused on venture capital, because VC companies had often decided on the problem they wanted to solve.

“We want to work at an earlier stage, like at the innovation or incubation stage, to present a number of problems that we need solutions for,’’ he said.

In Australia, the company is spending millions of dollars on trials in NSW using mobile phones for tolling, eliminating the need for toll devices in vehicles.

Its innovation grants program also provides $100,000 to bankroll new roads research projects for 12 months. The first of this year’s recipients is a University of Melbourne project looking at a road that knows how fast a car is travelling and will tell the driver to slow down.

“We know the industry needs new, cost-effective technologies to reduce accidents on our roads, to increase spacing between travelling vehicles and to guide motorists to reduce speeds ahead of congested areas,” University of Melbourne researcher Ranjith Unnithan said.

The second is a road that can identify every vehicle, where it is, what it is, how fast it is travelling and if it is stationary using technology developed by graphene manufacturer Imagine IM.

The third is a blanket-like cover for roadside wire rope barriers made of recycled plastic and old clothes to improve safety for motorcyclists if they crash, being developed by Deakin University.

“Some of these projects over time could make a good difference to the safety and efficiency of our roads and they are not so theoretical to be so far away in the future,’’ Mr Charlton said.

Transurban operates the maj­ority of toll roads in Australia, with the greatest concentration of assets in Sydney and Brisbane, in addition to Melbourne’s ­City­Link.

It is also proposing to build the $5.5 billion Western Distributor motorway in Melbourne and is a key partner in Sydney’s $2.9bn NorthConnex project linking the Pacific Motorway to the M2 in the city’s north.

It is also eyeing more road projects in the US.