VTE December 2023

VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEER

Formula SAE 2023

Calder Hosts Formula SAE-A: Full results and Teams FSAE-A Careers: Companies and competitors meet Applied EV: Upwardly Mobile Australian Company Technical Feature: Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot

December 2023 Issue 38 Representing mobility engineers since 1927 www.saea.com.au

VTE | Contents

Contents

December 2023 Thank you everyone for your efforts at FSAE

05

University of Sunshine Coast aims to get girls on track

09

Formula SAE-A at Calder for 2023

18

Formula SAE-A – Entrants & Results

22

Applied EV – Upwardly mobile

24

Special Features 18

Formula SAE-A – at Calder for 2023

22

Formula SAE-A – Entrants & Results

24

Applied EV – Upwardly mobile

VTE News 8

General News

10

Automotive News

12

Truck & Bus News

14

Defence & Aero News

16

Overseas News

Society News 4

Notes from the Chair - Welcome from Gary White

5

SAE-A News

Technical Feature 27

Technical – Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot – Safety Evaluation of Vehicle to Infrastructure applications

About the cover FSAE major placegetters – Edith Cowan University, University of Canterbury, University of Sydney, University of NSW and University of Queensland.

About the SAE-A SAE-A was founded in 1927 to address the need for further education for all facets surrounding Automotive Engineering, and now encompasses all mobility engineering industries in the Australasian region. The SAE-A is a non-profit organisation that works to serve the needs of its members and to promote the relevance of mobility related technologies to governments, industry and the community in general.

The editor, publisher, printer, the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) and their employees, directors, servants, agents and associated or related entities (Publishing Entities) are not responsible for the accuracy or correctness of the text, pictures or other material comprising the contributions and advertisements contained in this publication or for the consequences of any use made of the products, services and other information referred to in this publication. The Publishing Entities expressly disclaim all liability of whatsoever nature for any consequences arising from the use or reliance on material contained in this publication whether caused to a reader of this publication or otherwise. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publishing Entities. The responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of information and other material is that of the individual contributors and the Publishing Entities do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of information or other material supplied by others. To the extent permissible by law, the Publishing Entities exclude all liability pursuant to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) or other applicable laws arising from statute or common law.

Readers should make their own inquiries prior to the use of, or reliance on, any information or other material contained in this publication, and where necessary seek professional advice. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without the written permission of SAE-A is strictly prohibited.

www.saea.com.au

VTE | 3

Introduction | Secretary, CEO and Chairman Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia

VTE Published By: Society of Automotive Engineers - Australasia ABN:

95 004 248 604

Address: VACC House 650 Victoria Street, North Melbourne VIC 3051 Phone: 0403 267 166 Email: info@sae-a.com.au Web: www.saea.com.au Membership & Subscriptions Rose De Amicis Email: rose@sae-a.com.au Events Suzanne Nicol Email: events@sae-a.com.au

Board of Directors: Adrian Feeney – CEO Gary White – President Greg Shoemark – Vice President Mohammad Fard – Technical Director Noi Vera (Kotev) – Dir Events/Training Paul Nation – Director Treasurer Martha Oplopiadis – Director Membership Bernie Rolfe – FISITA & SAE Liaison James Soo – Autonomous/EV Vehicles Richard Taube – Board Director Michael Waghorne – Dir Truck & Bus

Magazine Production: Editor Mandy Parry-Jones Trading Terms Media Email: mandypj@optusnet.com.au Mobile: 0409 806 986 Design Brigid Fraser Email: fraseram@optusnet.com.au Mobile: 0413 009 122 Advertising Jill Johnson Jill Johnson Media Email: jj@jilljohnsonmedia.com.au Mobile: 0409 217 624

VTE Industry Partner: Excellerate Australia

4 | December 2023

Gary White President Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia It’s been an exciting couple of months since our last issue of VTE, with action on all fronts: training, seminars, events, and activation of the PERS program.

I have been able to visit a number of automotive engineering companies in the past few months, and I am excited about the level of activity in our country.

We have now two Australian-made electric motorcycle manufacturers with vehicles on sale.

We have electrified light commercial vehicles and trucks being built, and we have an expanding right hand drive (RHD) conversion industry engineering and manufacturing full size trucks (pickups) for the local market.

Australia has engineering companies building and exporting vehicles that are technically at the leading edge of automation. Next year I will put pen to paper to discuss how our engineering community is a part of the global advances in vehicle technology.

We have held many events this year and our events manager Suzanne Nicol has coordinated an amazing program of site visits, webinars and training events that really helped us keep up-todate with the progress of the industry locally and internationally. I was able to participate in some of these, and I encourage members to do so. Thank you so much Suzanne.

I spent some time at this year’s major FSAE-A event at Calder Park. The atmosphere was electric (!!) with the teams putting cars, engineering and presentations through their paces. There was so much going on, but everything was coordinated and ran smoothly. A huge thank you goes to FSAE-A Chairman Adrian Feeney, SAE-A staff and his amazing team of volunteers without whom Formula SAE-A would not be possible, let alone the amazing success of the program.

Our generous sponsors impressed once again with plenty of technology on show for our students to soak up. We were privileged to have some of the world’s leading automotive engineers on site, interacting with students in this unique environment.

As vehicle technology advances globally, FSAE-A will continue to develop its processes to keep pace with new design tools, materials, manufacturing processes and safety systems to produce more industry-ready graduates as a result. This is a program that enables our members to provide a unique level of mentoring and encouragement for our engineering students who are fellow members of SAE-A. By being at Calder Park, our sponsors got a good look at the excellent level of engineering knowledge the team members (potential employees) demonstrated.

The Professional Engineer Registration Scheme (PERS) has gained traction, with registrations now being issued. SAE-A is an accredited assessment entity for the scheme. Engineers can now request assessment for registration with the Business Licensing Authority, Victoria.

You can begin your registration process to offer services in Victoria, with reciprocal arrangements for Queensland. Please visit our website for more information or to request an assessment.

Next will be a big year with more member benefits being launched, and a new program of events – stay tuned!

I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas celebration, and a prosperous new year.

SAE | News

First PERS registration for SAE-A Victoria’s Professional Engineers Registration Scheme (PERS) is now in full operation, with SAE-A conducting assessments for both members and non-members seeking to be registered under the scheme.

With several engineers now assessed and soon to receive their registration, the first to be registered after being assessed by SAE-A is VASS signatory of 18 years and former TAFE teacher Stephen Churches.

Stephen has been gearing up for his registration for a year or more, ensuring he meets the requirements so he could be registered as soon as the scheme was fully operational for mechanical engineers.

As the first through the process, he helped SAE-A to sort out a few minor glitches in the system to be registered with the Business Licensing Authority (BLA). As an SAE-A member, Stephen found the process generally straightforward because the BLA had worked with the society to ensure that anyone who holds member grade or higher membership

is granted equivalency with the PERS requirements. This means that assessment for members is quicker, easier and cheaper because it is only a verification process.

To date some 20 engineers have applied for assessment and two-thirds of them have already been assessed successfully. At this stage members are out-numbering nonmembers by about two to one among the applicants.

Full details of the registration scheme and the application process can be found on the SAE-A website at www.saea.com.au/pers The application for registration is to the BLA, but the application for assessment is directly to SAE-A. For engineers who are already members (or higher) their qualifications will be verified and they can go straight on to

Stephen Churches the BLA. If not members, they can either go through the non-member full assessment process, or they can apply for membership and be assessed by the society’s membership grading committee before moving on to PERS assessment.

Thank you everyone for your efforts at FSAE Despite many last-minute changes which arose due to the change in location for the FSAE event in 2023 it all came together beautifully; this was a credit to the organising team particularly Suzanne Nicol and Rose de Amicis.

Of course, it could not go ahead without the efforts of the SAE-A board, and the large number of volunteers who start work much earlier than the days spent out at Calder Park Raceway.

We can’t mention everyone, but the SAE-A is sincerely grateful for the amount of time and effort you devote to the event.

JOB BOARD Low-cost advertising for employers.

Free job search for job seekers.

Access to a core 4,000+ specialist audience

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

As we look back on another successful year for the SAE-A, the society wishes all its members, their families and friends a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. Thank you for your continued support.

We look forward to working with you in 2024 and take this opportunity to remind you to renew your membership which you can do online in the membership portal at www.saea.com.au, or when you receive the automated renewal reminder in your inbox.

Please call the office if you need assistance but note that the SAE-A office will be closed from Friday 22 December until Monday 15 January 2024.

Four weeks of online exposure with an optional additional two weeks free!

Advertising Fees: SAE-A Member $50 Non-Member $100 Contact SAE-A: Email: info@sae-a.com.au Ph: +61 0403 267 166 VTE | 5

News | SAE

New Members The SAE-A would like to welcome the following new members: PROFESSIONAL & CORPORATE MEMBERS Nathan Deane Stephen Duncan Casey Eastham Liz Fleming Vesna Fulkoski Stephen Haughey Lee Humphris Matthew James Lukas Lindner Murray Longe Brett Longhurst Suresh Prabhakaran Aman Sharma Suyash Sidhaye Paul Stoopman David Swenson Nikhil Tribhuvan Tim Woods STUDENT MEMBERS Christopher Abberton Shayegan Abdollahbeigi Taha Abdulwahab Nur Fatihah Abu Hassan Samuel Adams Ricko Agluba Fatima Ahmed Muwahid Ahmed Cooper Airey Bilal Ait Maamar Jackson Alback Ross Aliferis Cameron Allan Areesh Amir Akash Anil Nair Jules Appleby Giacomo Ardizzon Mohammad Ardyansah Ryley Arnold Sanya Arora Wai Lun Au Zachrain Ayudya Chantelle Badenhop Angeni Bai Adam Bailey Edmund Baker James Baker Jackson Bamber Aseye Banini Sergio Alberto Bao Hou George Barbas Joseph Barker Sebastian Barrett Irzano Basrewan Ruby Bates Patrick Bawden Jacinta Bell Sacha Bell Drew Bender Gabriel Beretov Aidan Berger Aiden Bergheim Emily Bergman Arlo Berry Xavier Bestel Bariq Bhagaskara William Bone Mitch Boots William Bowler Sebastien Braibant Jackson Brandt Caleb Brett Jade Briggs John Brosnan Ryan Brown Dominik Brymora Hayden Bui Maxwell Bull Josh Burrows Lauren Bush Jacob Bush Alanna Butler Joshua Bywater

6 | December 2023

Ethan Cahill Merrick Campbell Casey Capito Alison Carr Alexander Castrisos Allyza Anne Catapang Cassandra Cecconi Cameron Chalmers Jadon Chan Manish Chand Cindy Chang Imogen Chang Ruby Chang Alec Chapman Henry Chapman Mali Chapman Titus Charoensri Blake Chase Anthony Chen Alvin Cherk Yun Pin Chew Joseph Chim Shiann Chin Henry Chiu Refael Cohen Luke Comyns Matthew Connolly Toby Cooper Christopher Corbett Angela Cortez Thomas Cranefield Daniel Crowther Shirley Cui Archie Culnane Michael Culvenor Jamie Damiani Cheru Dassanayake Bonaventura Datta Joshua Dawson Manindra de Mel Ferdinand Defregger Victoria Demos Rafael Deubler Benito Di battista Leo Ding Hannah Dinning Nam Do Mikayel Dobrovolski Olivia Dowling Darcy Doyle Kilian Doyle Michael Drake Sarah Dryburgh Jean-Pierre Du Plessis Casper Dugan Peter Dunley Nathan Duong Noah Edwards Mitchell Eickenloff Gabrielle Evans Timothy Fagan Jonathan Faltas Simone Fan Shenouda Farag Alicia Feng Lucas Fernandez Lewis Fernando Cooper Figliomeni Brandon Fletcher Katherine Flinn Samuel Fonhof Marcell Forgacs Clark Fountain Robbie Fox Aaron Francisco Siobhan Fraser Lucien Freidel Bowen Fucile Sena Fukushima Finn Gaedt Isabella Gao Marjet Garcia Rachel George Sheldon George Yianni Giannakopoulos

Anika Giju Thomas Zac Gillerat Jacques Godbold Jayant Godse Denis Goloubev Finn Gordon Thomas Gowen Justine Grimmick Matthew Haben Xavier Haddon Kaylan Hafza Samuel Haller Andrew Hampson Ignatius Handono Anivridh Haribabu Martin Harmaniak Steven Harmsen Alexander Hartwig Robert Hassall James Hazon Emily Head Leo Headley Eduard Hebecker Grant Herbert Jake Herrmann Daniel Hewitt-Perraud Grace Hickey Keanu Ho Matthew Hocking Angus Hogan Michael Holmes Stuart Home Will Houlahan Haozhe Hu Winola Hu Xingy Huang Jack Hudswell Chi Yu Hui Thomas Hulbert Oliver Humphris Jessica Hunt Laura Hunt Sarah Hurley Matthew Hutton Jessica Iankov Jeremy Ibrahim Joshua Ieraci Daniel Innamorati Alex Jaison Michael Jaworski Rainier Jee Matthew Jessop Emma Jewell Felipe Jimenez George Johnston Carla Jones Macgregor Jones Nicholas Jong Sumedh Joshi Shafin Kabir Anuraag Kammar Atharva Kapare Anastasia Kapeleri Itsuki Kashima Riya Kattady Uri Kaufman Li Sheen Kee Cireen Khan Salal Khan Hasan Khawar Christoph Kim Nelson Kingery Irina Kishi Curtis Kleinig Matthew Knibbe Maxim Kobets Gavin Kocsis Lachlan Koczwara Clarence Kong Kelvin Kong Kris Kong David Kurniawan Angelo La Rosa Stanley Tsz Kin Lam Cameron Lambert

John Langford Ian Lastrilla Cooper Launer Steen Ledger Jason Lee Oliver Levy Hua Ming Li Jed Li Junhao Li Justin Li Yanqing Li Frank Lin Zhirong Lin Tristen Lindner Lehan Ling Joseph Logozzo William Ludkin Jacob Lukes Ryan Lukito Jedd Lupoy Jennifer Luu Nicolas Lyall Chenchu Ma Dean Mackay Nicholas Madew Ida Maharani Putri Lauda Maheswari Ronin Mahony Thomas Mander Booshana Manikkuwadu Samuel Maron Luke Massa Anjaly Mathews Hamish McEwan Connor McGwynne Connor McHugh Ben McIntosh Taiga McKenzie Lachlan McLean Brady Mcneil Simon McRae Ferghus Meighan Grace Miller Lachlan Milton Shami Mohdar Anandias Sekarmelati Mokoginta Ben Moore Marc Morabito Thomas Morcom Austin Morcom Jacksyn Morgan Miki Morimoto Jai Morris Imel Munday Victoria Munro Pavyashneha Muralitharan Amcke Murphy Natasha Muttoo Prima Nafisman Naufal Najib Brandon Nanthathammiko Georgia Nathan Muhammad Hamzah Naveed Benno Negri Jassin Neuscheler Jason Ngo Jonathan Nicholas Adele Nicholl Jack Nichols Er Nie Alex Nightingale Adam Ali Noorali Jasmine Noorman Thomas Norgaard Jamie Noseda Janice Nyoto Eliza O’Donnell Benjamin O’Mahony William Obern Robeer Odeesh Chekwube Ogugua Hanning Oktaviani SaiMong Oo Jaime Orelowitz Toby Osborne Achmad Ostaputra Abner Pascual Dev Patel

Isha Patel Yuktha Pathi Akshay Patil Narelle Paul McLaren Pavlou Ethan Pay Zachary Payne Tyler Pearn Michael Pedersen Jasper Pendlebury Rui Peng Fynn Penny Joshua Perera Julian Perin Nikolas Peter Teahna Petersen Thomas Pettit Lan Pham-Ellickson Andy Phan Andrew Phillips Jaundre Pienaar Junyuan Ping Evan Polyzos Aurelien Pons Chloe Potter Raditya Prajnabuwana Jagad Preston David Pribis Ryan Price Hamish Prime Forbes Purcell Dimas Putra Imam Rahman Arjun Raj Madhav Rajesh Ari Rakogiannis Ishan Rama Sachith Ranathunga Anirudh Rayudu Navnith Reddy Jedd Reeves Callum Richards Geoffrey Rickard Cameron Rigden Jeremy Roberts Vinod Rodrigo Matthew Rogers Iris Rollin Timothy Ronchi Angus Ross Grace Rossiter Boston Royal Prodipto Roychowdhury Ahmad Rozaqi Pietro Rugai Tejeshvi Sagwal Fikri Sakti Ellycia Salsabil Iordanis Sapountzis Samuel Sarkis Md Gaji Sayem Lachlan Sayer Timothy Schoeman Cecilia Schultz Declan Scott Jack Searle Jacob Searle Marcus Serong Jia Sethi Hansh Sheth Luke Simmonds Jakeb Simmons Hugh Simpson Clarissa Sin Sebastien Sin Raina Singh Abhi Singh Avni Singh Josephine Singh Livjot Singh Simranpal Singh Chris Skelly Ethan Small Kirsty Smart James Smith Harriet Smith Andrew Smith Jarrah Smith William Smith

Antonio Spataro Michael Spurdle Katia Stephan Gustav Sticka Jack Stokes Freddie Studholme Rene Sturmberg Natalie Stutz Karen Sujadi Karthik Sunderasan Gusti Suputra Wijaya Sanjay Suresh Ryan Sweeney Brock Symons Fei Tahiliani Anson Tan Nathaniel Tan Julian Tebbe Charles Teed Ethan Teoh Caprice Tesoriero Angelina The Ariana Thomas Alexander Todhunter Dut Tong Alex Tonner Thien Tran Anh Tran Welton Tran George Triantopoulos Ed Truong Shakif Turjo Casper Tyson Thomas Vader Benjamin Van Essen Jake van Rooyen Noah Vando Noah Vendrig Dessier Azul Ventura Ryan Verghese Anton Vilder Zakariyya Von Forslun Quan Vu Sophie Vuillemin Karan Vyas Ahmad Wahono Alex Wang Shabrina Warastri Madeleine Warner Thomas Waters Liam Watson Keagan Watts Jett Wayne Thomas Webb Andrew Wei Andrew Weihen Joshua Wenham Matthew Westerman Lachlan Weymouth Liam Whitehouse Declan Wills Isaac Wilson Troy Winchester Ariq Wiratno Freddy Wright Chin Han Wu Guang Rui Kelvin Xu Jason Yang Kevin Yang Chawki Yasseen Henry Ye Annabel Yenson Mikael Yilma Arran Yong Gabriel Yong Liam Young Daniel Yu Weize Yu Fahim Zaher Pietro Zanetti Ferreira James Zhang Hongyang Zhao Thomas Zheng Rowan Ziegelaar Micah Zuglian

News | General

General Briefs Austral MoU with UK Austal Australia has entered into an MoU with UK shipbuilder and maritime service provider Harland & Wolff Group to pursue shipbuilding opportunities in the UK. The MoU, signed at the 2023 Indo Pacific Maritime Exposition in Sydney, includes the transfer of technology, skills and shipyard capabilities required to build the next generation of patrol vessels for UK’s maritime security agencies.

Kick start for Kick Start

More Australian small businesses can now access research and development (R&D) funding and expertise through Australia’s national science agency, as CSIRO broadens its Kick-Start program.

The program has now been expanded with an increase in eligibility to include businesses with a turnover of up to $10 million. This marks a significant increase from the previous eligibility of companies with a turnover of up to $1.5 million.

ManuFutures open for work Deakin University’s expanded its $20m ManuFutures hub in Geelong opened by former Victoria’s Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty Ben Carroll. The hub has doubled in size and will boost regional manufacturing capabilities through the addition of new manufacturing incubator programs, training, and product engineering services, providing opportunities for an increased number of innovation-focused tenants and startups. It provides collaborative workspaces and tenancy bays for manufacturing businesses with four already installed as tenants.

Two reports on manufacturing Grant Thornton has released its 2023 Manufacturing Benchmarking Report, analysing the financial data from 100 Australian mid-sized manufacturers and tracking their performance during FY23. The report has revealed positive trends in 2023, with a 6.7 percent year-on-year average sales growth. This is attributable to increased capital expenditure and investing into emerging technologies, particularly for businesses with revenue over $100m whose scale has supported ongoing growth and success.

The House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources tabled its report Sovereign, smart, sustainable: Driving advanced manufacturing in Australia. The bipartisan report makes 10 recommendations designed to support manufacturers’ access to suitable investment capital, improve R&D commercialisation and industry–research collaboration, and address workforce and skills shortages. A copy of the report can be found on the Committee’s website.

8 | December 2023

Precision engineering for advanced optics The University of South Australia’s Precision Engineering Centre showcases new advanced optics capabilities that will transform a range of industries.

The centre housing lab-on-a-chip technology, micro and nano-machining equipment, advanced sensing and state-of-the-art precision optics capabilities and expertise is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, placing Australia at the forefront of advanced manufacturing.

The result of a decade-long collaboration between the SA Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF-SA) and the Research Engineering (RE) team at the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), the centre is literally at the cutting edge of defence manufacturing.

Among its recent creations is the largest diamond-turned mirror in Australia, made with a multi-axis, ultra-precision machining system, and some of the tiniest sensors which

are helping to secure the future of South Australia’s advanced manufacturing sector.

The pioneering precision engineering facility is transforming a range of sectors of strategic national importance including defence, health and medical fields, manufacturing, mining, recycling and clean energy, water security, space, and agriculture.

Victorian hydrogen hub CSIRO, and Swinburne University of Technology’s Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2) have launched a state-of-the-art clean hydrogen refuelling station, purpose-built for enabling hydrogen research.

The $2.5 million refuelling station uses green hydrogen produced with electricity from renewable sources that allows hydrogen cars to travel over 600km emissions-free on a full tank.

Located at CSIRO’s Clayton site in Victoria, the station showcases the real-world application of hydrogen and will be used to demonstrate hydrogen’s utility for transport.

It will also be used to test emerging hydrogen technology and train the next generation on the use of hydrogen stations to ensure Australia remains internationally competitive.

The refuelling station can generate up to 20kg of green hydrogen a day via electrolysis, and has a storage capacity of 80kg, enough for more than 10 cars.

General | News

Ampol, Toyota, Hyundai and Pacific Energy join for hydrogen Ampol, Hyundai Australia, Pacific Energy and Toyota Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), to jointly develop hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.

The agreement brings together leading proponents of Australia’s growing hydrogen economy and demonstrates a commitment to work together to build a more sustainable future.

Both Hyundai and Toyota currently have fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) fleets operating in Australia, while Ampol and Pacific Energy are heavily investing in energy solutions to support customers through the energy transition.

The goal of the MOU is to combine the expertise and capabilities of each of the partners to help develop hydrogen refuelling stations for FCEVs in Canberra.

“Hydrogen can play an important role in delivering decarbonisation benefits for transport and developing the right infrastructure to support a successful rollout is key,” Ampol Managing Director and CEO, Matt Halliday, said.

“The MOU establishes a collaborative working relationship between the parties, who are all required to develop the necessary hydrogen ecosystem to make hydrogen use as a transport fuel feasible.”

Toyota Australia President and CEO, Matthew Callachor said that since 2018, Toyota has been expanding its hydrogen capability in Australia.

University of Sunshine Coast aims to get girls on track The diversity of study pathways into jobs in Australia’s $3.3billion motorsports sector has been showcased to more than 35 girls and young women from Gladstone to the Gold Coast.

The University of the Sunshine Coast cohosted an information and mentoring day at the V8 Supercars’ PremiAir Racing at Arundel to outline how studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) could lead to adrenalin-filled careers.

The Girls on Track Pathways program, coordinated by Motorsports Australia, aims to address gender disparity in the global industry by empowering women aged 15 to 22, particularly those from regional, rural, remote and First Nations backgrounds.

Dr Dan van den Hoek, who worked as a sport scientist with Triple Eight Race Engineering, said the national Girls On Track program wanted to counter the underrepresentation of women in both athlete and non-athlete roles in motorsports.

“Female drivers represent less than five percent of the motorsport population,” he said.

“We need to increase the visibility of female professionals across the sector.”

“This month, we announced plans to locally assemble and distribute the EODev GEH2 fuel cell generator in Australia and this joint collaboration announced today provides further opportunities to explore and grow this vital technology,” he said.

WA establishes freight railcar manufacturing The WA Government will boost local freight railcar manufacturing with the establishment of a new Rail Collaboration Centre (RCC) in Karratha, with hubs located in Newman and Perth.

Minister Assisting the Minister for State and Industry Development, Jobs and Trade Stephen Dawson, announced a $998,000 funding package to assist the CORE Innovation Hub to enhance manufacturing and employment opportunities in Western Australia’s rail sector.

The funding will support the assembly, manufacture, servicing, research and development of rail freight wagons to take place locally.

The RCC is expected to generate opportunities for local manufacturing, new industry activity, create jobs, and localise training opportunities.

The centre will fill a strategic gap as a collaboration platform to undertake worldclass testing, research and development of new rolling stock, infrastructure, technology, and ideas.

Bridgette O’Malley, Dr Justin Holland (QUT), Dr Prue Millear, student Alisha Griffiths, Dr Dan van den Hoek and student Tiffany Revie. www.saea.com.au

One of the main focuses of the RCC will be supporting and delivering activity and capability in the Pilbara.

VTE | 9

News | Auto

Auto Briefs

BYD Auto’s lofty ambitions

BYD Seal and Dolphin tested by ANCAP

China’s BYD Auto has expansion plans that will underpin its lofty goals of being a top five brand in Australia.

The expansion includes the opening of an additional 30 new retail outlets and more service locations within the next 18 months.

One of the key reasons this announcement is important is that BYD will be introducing the first of its DM-I Electric Platform Hybrids into the Australian market.

ANCAP awarded a five-star safety rating to the BYD SEAL and BYD DOLPHIN. The battery electric BYD SEAL and BYD DOLPHIN are just the second and third vehicle models to be rated against new 2023 criteria. Both were assessed for their structural crash protection through a rigorous series of physical crash tests, as well as their ability to actively avoid collisions with other cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and new from 2023 – motorcycles.

GUD buys offshore GUD has entered into an agreement to acquire Rindab AB and subsidiary Vision X Europe AB from the company’s Swedish owners. Rindab AB will complement BWI’s business with established sales and distribution facilities in Sweden with reach across Scandinavia and other Northern European countries. Its customers include OEMs like Volvo and Scania and their respective networks of truck and car dealerships. While Rindab AB predominantly sells light bars, the product suite extends to truck and bus camera and digital mirror systems, and accessories aimed at pickups and allterrain vehicles. Rindab’s customer base includes original equipment and aftermarket sellers.

With the BYD ultra-low emission Electric Platform Hybrids (EPH) are ground up electric vehicles with highly advanced dual motor technology allowing for ultra-low emission petrol drive to facilitate extremely long driving ranges, eliminating range anxiety while still enjoying the benefits of driving an electric vehicle.

EVDirect distributor for BYD also announced the opening of its service and support centre in Mascot. This is the first of its kind for

BYD in the Asia-Pacific region, it marks a significant milestone in BYD’s expansion.

It will host regular Electric Vehicle training forums for upskilling of motor services trades right across the country, providing an opportunity to learn about EV technology from battery technology and charging solutions to safety protocols, warranty details, and specific service requirements for electric vehicles.

ANCAP safe for another five years The Australian Government has solidified its commitment to boost the safety of new vehicles offered to Australian consumers, committing to fund the vital ANCAP safety rating program for a further five years.

Ward award to Nissan

Nissan Ariya’s dual motor e-4ORCE all-wheel drive system1 was named to “Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems” list for 2023.

Ariya is the second Nissan EV powertrain to receive an award following the LEAF in 2011 – the first time Wards recognized an electric motor. The Wards award winners are decided by a panel of journalists with extensive experience evaluating vehicle powertrains on factors including horsepower, torque, noise, efficiency, comparative specifications and applications of new technology.

This year, the judges tested 32 all-new or vastly improved propulsion systems, putting them through the paces of daily life – commuting, road trips and running errands.

10 | December 2023

Assistant Minster for Infrastructure and Transport, Senator Carol Brown confirmed the Government’s commitment during ANCAP’s 30th Anniversary commemorative celebrations in Sydney.

The Australian Government will commit $16.3 million over five years (2023-24 to 2027-28) to assist ANCAP in delivering and enhancing its highly-valued and independent passenger and light commercial vehicle safety test and rating program – including the prioritisation of ratings for electric vehicles.

The funding commitment will also assist ANCAP in expanding its influence to address road safety challenges among a broader range vehicle types and market segments through the testing and provision of consumer

information for commercial vans and large utilities (pick-up trucks).

Over the past three years, the value of ANCAP in enhancing the safety of the Australian vehicle fleet is conservatively estimated at $442.2 million.

In 2021 alone, ANCAP’s influence in expediting the fitment of autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist and centre airbags can be attributed to the saving of nine lives and a reduction of 236 serious injuries.

The Australian Government is one of 21 member organisations that fund ANCAP. Support for ANCAP is also through industry collaboration and the provision of test results from sister organisation, Euro NCAP.

Auto | News

Hyper Tourer EV concept Nissan unveiled its Hyper Tourer, the third in its series of advanced electric-vehicle (EV) concepts.

This all-electric minivan combines the essence of omotenashi (Japanese hospitality) with various advanced technologies, including autonomous driving.

The V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) functionality and high-capacity battery also allows electricity to be supplied to homes, stores, and offices, while traveling and in various business situations.

The spacious interior is made possible thanks to the Nissan EV Technology Vision, which consolidates compact components and high-energy density all-solid-state batteries to create innovative car packaging.

The result is an ultra-low centre of gravity, which when combined with the vehicle’s advanced e-4ORCE all-wheel control system

produces smooth and flat acceleration and deceleration.

Fully autonomous driving enables those in the driver’s seat to focus on interacting with their travel companions. The front seats can swivel 360-degrees, allowing front and rear seat passengers to have face-to-face discussions.

Rear-seat passengers can use a wearable display to view and operate the navigation and audio on the front-seat centre display.

Also, an innovative AI system can monitor biometric signs including brain waves, heart rate, breathing and perspiration and can automatically select complementary music and adjust the lighting to fit your mood.

Savvy drivers like new tech A representative survey of 1,000 Australian adults by Savvy has shown that 52 percent of respondents say that autonomous parking features such as 360° cameras are their “must have” feature in a new car.

Other active safety measures Australians consider important in a car purchase are blind spot monitoring (50 percent), emergency braking systems (32 percent), adaptive cruise control (28 percent), and lane change assist (18 percent).

PWR invests a cool $21M Gold Coast company PWR Advanced Cooling Technologies will invest $21.9 million in facility upgrades and new equipment over three years to increase production capacity by 114 percent.

The new facility, expected to be ready in 2025, will also see PWR add up to 488 new jobs over the next 10 years that will more than double its current Australian workforce of 340 staff.

PWR has already been a motor sport success story and is seeing rapid growth in defence and aerospace industries.

Car companies that drive the world

Of those surveyed 35 percent said touchscreen displays were important, followed by Apple CarPlay/Android Auto integration (34 percent), and keyless entry and/or a dedicated smartphone app (31 percent).

Women were more likely to choose safety features over men.

Safety feature importance seemed to increase as cohorts got older such as 44 percent of 1824s saying blind spot monitoring was important more than 62 percent of 55-64s.

Though we may be a long way from driverless cars, 22 percent of Australians say they don’t trust and feel uncomfortable with new driving or autonomous tech, with 25 percent saying they have some doubts and concerns.

Only nine percent say they fully trust and feel comfortable with autonomous driving, 23 percent said they were neutral about the technology. www.saea.com.au

VTE | 11

News | Truck & Bus

New trams a step closer Melbourne’s locally made next generation trams are one step closer after a life-sized model of was unveiled for testing and evaluation for the first time ahead of production ramping up.

Minister for Public and Active Transport Gabrielle Williams visited Tullamarine to unveil the first life-sized mock-up of a next generation tram for testing and evaluation – set to hit the network by 2025.

The Labor Government is investing $1.85 billion in 100 new G-class trams alongside a new tram maintenance and stabling facility when the fleet is ready.

Queensland opts for 200 locally made buses The Queensland Government has made a commitment to build 200 rail replacement buses locally with the preferred manufacturers announced.

Scania Australia and Volvo Group Australia (through Volgren) have both been appointed as preferred builders of the 200 new buses after a rigorous independent procurement process.

The initial $133.8 million investment will ensure the buses are built in Queensland, supporting local manufacturing jobs, skills, and training.

The first bus is expected to be delivered in March 2024 with the full delivery of the 200 buses by the end of 2024.

TMR is currently prioritising the delivery of infrastructure to support charging capabilities for zero-emission buses at depots across SEQ and remains committed to all new Translink-contracted buses in SEQ being a zero-emission vehicle from 2025.

Once the supporting infrastructure is completed at depots within SEQ the contract allows flexibility to turn to procuring electric buses under this contract.

“This project is a game-changer for Volgren’s Eagle Farm production facility. It will support hundreds of current and new jobs in Brisbane and create and retain essential skills for the upcoming Zero Emission Bus transition from

The more accessible trams will be built

by Alstom in Dandenong using at least 65 percent local content and supporting up to 1,900 local jobs through manufacturing, the supply chain and construction.

They will replace some of Melbourne’s longest-serving A and Z class high-floor trams, making our public transport network more accessible for all Victorians.

With greater capacity than the high floor trams, they will have space for up to 150 passengers and feature a low floor design to improve accessibility. The trams also feature on-board energy storage to reduce power use and network costs.

The first G Class trams are scheduled to begin testing on the network from 2025, before taking passengers on Routes 57, 59 and 82 in Melbourne’s west.

12 | December 2023

2025. Volgren is pleased to have been trusted with such an amazing project,” Volgren CEO, Thiago Deiro said.

“Besides being locally manufactured in Brisbane, Volgren buses are predominantly made using locally supplied parts and components, creating a circular economy, benefiting the local supply chain, and creating amazing job opportunities for the communities where we are involved.”

BusTech CEO Dan Marks said he was delighted to have been awarded buses in partnership with Scania as part of the rail replacement program.

“BusTech has been manufacturing buses in Queensland for 30 years, employing 1000s of Queenslanders in that period and supplying buses throughout Queensland to multiple operators including 10 BusTech battery electric buses to Clarks in Logan,” he said.

Australian made hydrogen buses on Melbourne roads Two Australian-made and designed hydrogen buses will be rolled out across Melbourne’s west.

Minister for Public and Active Transport Gabrielle Williams visited Transit Systems West Footscray bus depot, which will run the two hydrogen buses to service routes across Melbourne.

energy they use and what is required to charge them for different route patterns.

The two Victorian-first hydrogen buses form part of a trial in which six operators including Transit are rolling out 52 zero emissions buses, alongside the two hydrogen vehicles, across the state.

This trial will provide valuable data on the transition of 4,000 diesel buses, including 2,200 in regional Victoria.

Data from the trial will provide practical information on how the zero emission buses perform – assessing things like how much

From 2025 onwards, all new buses purchased for Victoria’s public transport system will be zero emissions.

Transit Systems will operate the hydrogen buses from their West Footscray depot on routes in Melbourne, Williamstown, Moonee Ponds, Footscray and Sunshine.

Truck & Bus | News

Train manufacturing on a pineapple farm Truck & Bus Briefs VP for UD in Australia

Train manufacturing in Queensland is being boosted by a $30 million investment

by Downer partner Hyundai Rotem.

The Hyundai Rotem Corporation will establish a stand-alone local presence on the Fraser Coast with the purchase of an industrial site and plans to establish a factory to produce sub-components for train car bodies.

This kind of component has been made overseas for decades but will now be made locally in Maryborough, creating an additional 20 jobs.

Volvo Group Australia has announced the appointment of Philippa Wood as Vice President, UD Trucks Australia. This role will also see her become a part of the wider Volvo Group Australia leadership team.

The Hyundai Rotem facility is in addition to the QTMP site being built at Torbanlea and Downer’s facility at Maryborough.

Major works are underway at the Torbanlea facility to transform from a former pineapple farm into Australia’s newest state-of-theart train manufacturing facility, which will manufacture 65 six-car passenger trains to run on the SEQ train network.

The Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (QTMP) site will support 800 construction and manufacturing jobs.

Downer was awarded the Design Build Maintain Contract (DBM) for the QTMP earlier this year and has partnered with the Hyundai Rotem Corporation (HRC) for the manufacturing of the 65 new trains.

Once the first QTMP train has been built in 2026, it will begin testing before entering passenger services in 2027. All 65 trains are expected to be in service in time for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games while helping to run additional services that will be delivered by the Cross River Rail and Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail projects.

Hyundai Rotem’s Maryborough factory will be operational in 2025 and will provide the roll forming to be used for rail car bodies at the Torbanlea train manufacturing facility.

DHL plugs in with Volvo DHL Supply Chain (DHL) has its first Australian delivery of Volvo FL Electric with second-generation battery packs.

With a background in sales, marketing and strategy in local and international automotive segments Ms Wood has most recently held the position of Volvo Trucks Sales Manager for Volvo Commercial Vehicles Australia.

Ms Wood joined Volvo Group Australia in 2014 as part of the Brand, Marketing and Communications team and was previously in sales and marketing roles with Ford Motor Company in the UK. Permanent LZEHV road network The Victorian Government announced a permanent low/zero emissions road network (LZEHV) with an access map developed to simplify the implementation of LZEH vehicles on Victorian roads.

The new network will allow Volvo heavy duty electric trucks to operate under a pre-approved, three-year permit with a 7.5 ton steer axle weight concession on these routes.

Victoria is the first state or territory to make permanent moves to open the road network to LZEHVs rather than a trial.

MaxiTRANS closes Qld site

The updated battery packs provide an increase in range over the previous range of FL Electric.

Based at DHL’s western Sydney supply chain campus, the medium-duty Volvo FL begins the fulfilment of DHL Supply Chain’s efforts in Australia to help achieve the Group’s target of 60 percent electric vehicles in its last-mile fleet by 2030.

The Volvo FL combines a 600-volt motor with a two-speed transmission to deliver a www.saea.com.au

5,500-kilogram payload. Four 66 kWh Gen 2 battery packs provide power with charging times dependent on the duty cycle and chargers used.

A regenerative braking system and transmission tops up the FL’s batteries every time it decelerates.

Fitted with a tautliner van body capable of carrying eight full-sized pallets, the Volvo FL uses its 300-kilometre range to service various DHL Supply Chain customers.

MaxiTRANS has announced that it will be closing its trailer manufacturing facility in Carole Park, Queensland, following a decision to focus on centralising its trailer manufacturing business in Ballarat, located in regional Victoria.

ATSG is coming into its third year of ownership of MaxiTRANS, and the business is preparing for the next phase of its expansion with the company investing significantly to grow and develop the Ballarat manufacturing site.

VTE | 13

News | Defence & Aero

Rosebank activates its Wheels & Brakes Rosebank Engineering has announced the activation of its F-35 Lightning II Wheels & Brakes Repair Depot at its Bayswater facility in Melbourne, Victoria.

This significant development positions Rosebank as a key service provider under the Global Support Solution for F-35 aircraft operating in, or deployed to, the Indo-Pacific Region.

marks an important milestone in Rosebank’s F-35 MRO strategy and reinforces its commitment to providing world-class support to the F-35 enterprise, and assets deployed in the region.

Rosebank is now positioned to deliver worldclass services to ensure the mission readiness and operational effectiveness of F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

Operating under sub-contract to F-35 aircraft OEM and global sustainment prime contractor Lockheed Martin, Rosebank is the preferred Component Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul & Upgrade (CMRO&U) assignee on five Repair Technology Groups (RTGs) of the F-35 platform in the Indo-Pacific Region.

Drawing on Rosebank’s long history of MRO support to the Royal Australian Air Force, the activation of this specialised depot

Defence & Aero Briefs Tasmania on the map for defence projects Tasmania’s manufacturing and defence industries continue to innovate and provide cutting-edge technology and world-leading defence products to Australia and the globe.

“We have released the Advanced Manufacturing Action Plan 2024 and the Tasmanian Defence Industry Strategy 2023 which will underpin thousands of jobs throughout Tasmania,” Minister for Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries, Madeleine Ogilvie, said.

“Tasmanian companies have already exceeded the goals set out in the Defence Industry Strategy, with more than $129 million in defence related contracts over the last three years – a testament to the quality products and technology our State has to offer.

“More than 50 defence supply contracts were awarded to Tasmanian companies in 2021-22 alone, attracting around $75 million into our economy.

“The recent success of Tasmanian businesses as part of the Hanwha Defense Australia LAND 400 Phase 3 project is expected to deliver more than $100 million to the Tasmanian economy and will secure more than 50 new jobs.”

14 | December 2023

Activation of the Wheels & Brakes repair capability is the first of several activations planned over the coming decade.

In establishing this capability, Rosebank has partnered with the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, and the Australian Department of Defence Rosebank Engineering is now poised to become a key player in supporting F-35 aircraft operations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Echelon Honda Aircraft Company has revealed “HondaJet Echelon” as the official name of its new light jet at 2023 National Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (NBAA-BACE).

A mockup of the HondaJet Echelon was alongside the HondaJet Elite II at 2023 NBAA-BACE.

first single-pilot light jet capable of nonstop transcontinental flight across the United States.

The HondaJet Echelon, previously introduced as the HondaJet 2600 Concept in 2021, sets a new paradigm by offering a mid-sized jet experience in the light jet category.

The design of the HondaJet Echelon incorporates electrification and automation of its systems, leading towards augmented pilot capabilities, reduced workload, and enhanced safety.

The aircraft is designed to be the world’s

Defence & Aero | News

SA partners with US shipbuilder The South Australian Government is partnering with the United States’ largest shipbuilder HII to accelerate the development of the state’s defence industry workforce, skills, and supply chain.

Through its newly formed entity in Australia, HII Nuclear Australia, HII has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the South Australian Government.

The Memorandum of Understanding with the State Government outlines the shared intent of both parties to embark on a cooperative working arrangement – leveraging HII’s international industry expertise to prepare South Australia for the major shipbuilding projects on the horizon.

The State Government and HII will work with local companies, academia and education

providers to develop a skilled workforce and strengthen Australia’s industry capability.

A Division of HII, Newport News Shipbuilding is one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear-powered submarines, including the US Navy’s most advanced attack submarines — the Virginia-class.

This capability will prove invaluable as South Australia embarks on the construction of Australia’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines (SSN-AUKUS), to be built at the world-class Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide.

Bisalloy Steels for AUKUS hull The Australian Submarine Agency has entered into a contract with Bisalloy Steels, for the qualification of Australian steel for use on Australia’s SSN-AUKUS conventionally armed nuclearpowered submarines.

Defence & Aero Briefs Fly a Kite Kite Magnetics (Kite), an offshoot of Monash University that makes electric engines for planes, opened its facility in Notting Hill.

Kite’s 120 kW electric engine, which is intended for use on small training aircraft, delivers power comparable to a standard small car while tipping the scales no heavier than a packed travel suitcase. At the core of Kite’s engines lies Aeroperm; a new magnetic materials technology first developed at Monash University, that has energy losses 10 times smaller than conventional magnetic material.

Securing shipbuilding in WA The Federal Government is securing Australia’s shipbuilding capability and investing in Western Australian defence industry through a new strategic partnership between Defence and Austal Limited at Henderson Shipyard.

This significant reform will secure Henderson’s future as a vital naval shipbuilding complex with the capacity and capability to meet the evolving needs of our Defence Force.

This initiative will deliver a secure pipeline of work at Henderson, providing industry with greater certainty and helping to secure longterm skilled jobs, infrastructure investment and productivity in the local economy.

The comprehensive qualification process, involving more than 4500 tests, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.

Bisalloy Steels will perform the advanced heat treatment process on the raw plate steel to produce high grade submarine pressure hull steel that meets or exceeds both the UK and US standards. The raw plate steel will be supplied by BlueScope.

Not only will the steel produced under this contract be used for qualification purposes, it will be used to develop the necessary welding procedures, and used in early production demonstration activities occurring ahead of the commencement of construction of Australia’s first SSN-AUKUS submarine later this decade.

Axiom support for naval strike missile

Australia’s Birdon Group Pty Ltd has been selected as the preferred designer for the Landing Craft Medium capability. The Commonwealth will work with Birdon to undertake further design maturation to prepare the Landing Craft Medium design, for the construction of 18 vessels at Henderson.

A sovereign and enduring naval shipbuilding and sustainment industry at Henderson is central to the Government’s commitment to ensuring continuous naval shipbuilding in Australia and delivering the capabilities needed to keep Australians safe.

Delivery and support for local Redbacks

Axiom Precision Manufacturing has entered into a new contract with Kongsberg Defence Australia for the manufacture and delivery of ground support equipment for the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), under Sea 1300 Phase 1 – Navy Guided Weapons.

The Australian Government has signed contracts with Hanwha Defense Australia to deliver and support 129 locally built Redback infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian Army.

Last year, the Commonwealth of Australia announced the selection of Kongsberg’s NSM to replace the Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile capability on the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) Anzac Class Frigates and Hobart Class Destroyers, enhancing the ADF’s extended range strike ability.

growth in Axiom’s vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities, including fabrication and painting.”

The total project value is approximately A$7 billion dollars, representing the single largest investment in Army capability to date. The combined value of the acquisition and initial support contracts is approximately A$4.5 billion dollars.

“The contract with Kongsberg is great recognition of Axiom’s strong history as a Defence supplier across many platforms and we look forward to growing our partnership on the back of this project,” said Craig Maynard, Axiom General Manager.

Axiom’s manufacturing facilities in Adelaide service the aerospace, defence, space and medical industries and hold AS 9100, ISO 14001 and ISO13485 certifications.

“The new contract will support additional www.saea.com.au

Established in 1979, Axiom specialises in electronic hardware design, precision machining, complex mechanical, electromechanical and sub-system manufacturing.

Manufacture of the complex assemblies has commenced in Axiom’s Wingfield facility, with the first deliveries due in early 2024.

The Redback infantry fighting vehicles will be built at Hanwha Defense Australia’s state-of-theart facility in Avalon, Greater Geelong, Victoria delivering hundreds of jobs to the local community.

Independent analysis forecasts that at the peak of its build, this project is expected to support approximately 2,100 jobs inclusive of 1,800 direct jobs.

VTE | 15

News | Overseas

NZ on a rapid charge Rapid EV charging technology provider Kempower and technical services company ECL Group have delivered their first EV charging installation in New Zealand.

Located at a Z Energy (Z) fuel station in Hautapu, Cambridge, on the country’s North Island, the facility has increased rapid DC charging infrastructure availability for local drivers and will encourage EV adoption in the region.

Transportation currently accounts for 18 percent of New Zealand’s CO2 emissions, with the country prioritizing e-mobility as a way of decarbonizing.

In 2021, the government set a target of offering a public charging station every 75km along state highways, while there were 680 public chargers available in the country as of last year.

Blended fuel for Emirates Emirates and Neste have expanded their partnership by solidifying their collaboration for the supply of more than three million gallons of blended Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel in 2024 and 2025.

The sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which will be blended with conventional jet fuel, will be supplied over the course of 2024 and 2025 for Emirates’ flights departing from Amsterdam Schiphol and Singapore Changi airports.

Emirates’ expanded partnership with Neste represents the largest volume of SAF to be uplifted of any airline based in the Middle East and Africa to date.

New Zealand’s forthcoming National EV Charging Strategy will likely create new targets for the roll-out of public EV charging infrastructure.

Kempower and ECL Group have partnered to provide infrastructure-grade rapid DC charging technology across New Zealand.

The Cambridge site features a Kempower Power Unit with two Kempower Satellites, capable of offering a maximum deliverable charging capacity of 120kW per plug.

Kempower ChargEye, a cloud-based charging management system, is also available, offering an enhanced charging experience for drivers and assisting Z in delivering safe and secure operations at the four-bay charging hub.

ECL Group has worked with Z for over a decade and specifically supported the company’s e-mobility business for around a year.

It provided design services for the deployment of Kempower’s technology at the Cambridge fuel station and led the installation of the chargers.

ECL Group will be responsible for ongoing maintenance and support at the site.

16 | December 2023

The blended SAF will be over one million gallons of neat SAF. This represents a blended ratio of over 30 percent neat SAF combined with conventional Jet A-1 fuel.

Before the end of this year, the airline will also uplift SAF for the first time from its Dubai hub.

SAF reduces carbon emissions of air travel by up to 80 percent over the fuel’s life cycle when compared with using conventional jet fuel.

XSTOL aircraft from NZ A new multi-million-dollar aircraft designed by Kiwi aeronautical engineers is set to help governments and humanitarian organisations save lives during natural disasters and fight the impact of climate change in some of the world’s most inaccessible regions.

The SuperPac XSTOL (Extremely Short TakeOff and Landing) aircraft, does not require a sealed runway and is capable of taking off in as little as 200m and landing on a wide variety of rugged terrains, including hillsides.

The new aircraft, which cost more than $10m and took seven years to develop, is a next-generation, more powerful and fuelefficient version of the 750XL, the world’s first commercial XSTOL aircraft.

The ability of the aircraft to land in remote locations on only semi-prepared airstrips and rapidly take off with up to nine passengers or 2,000kg cargo has seen it sold into 28 countries, including Africa with the United Nations World Food Program.

Closer to home, the aircraft also plays a vital role in the Pacific Islands where

it is used in lifesaving medivac transports, humanitarian aid, disaster relief, border patrol and maritime surveillance.

Stephen Burrows, CEO of NZAero, the country’s only commercial aircraft maker, says the design adaption of the aircraft to New Zealand’s variable terrain and weather conditions has made it suitable for a wide range of applications to help mitigate the impact of climate change.

Feature | Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) 2023

Formula SAE at Calder for 2023 A fond farewell to internal combustion engines, and a cordial welcome to a growing number of autonomous vehicles So many people and so many organisations are needed to make Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) come to fruition, the SAE-A is fortunate to have a dedicated group of event partners and sponsors with many of them choosing to also present their company at the event with onsite displays and at the yearly careers’ expo, which this year was held on the evening of Saturday 16 December.

Among the companies attending for the first time was Caterpillar.

“We had really solid conversations, really positive candidates that we identified. The talent is there, that’s for sure,” said Casey Eastham, who is Senior Field Engineer Electrification & Energy Solutions for Caterpillar.

“It is a strong feed into our graduate program, and then it’s around using the SAE-A job board – making sure we utilise that.

“There’s a lot of potential and a lot of offerings available

by SAE-A.” A long-time event partner is ADF Careers who have supported the event for years and this year Malcolm

Lewis headed the team who displayed a range of vehicles at FSAE and ran a booth at the careers’ expo.

“We thoroughly enjoy being there, we were there last year as well,” he said. “We got a chance to talk to a lot of prospects coming through.

“It’s in our best interests to look at university students who are already halfway through their degrees. We have what we call our Defence University Sponsorship we take people who are already at university, and we pay for the remainder of their degree.”

These students are guaranteed a job as soon as they are finished their degrees plus, they have a large portion of their tuition fees paid for and receive a ‘weekly wage’ while still studying. So, for the final years of their degree, their job is purely studying.

Another committed supporter of both FSAE-A and SAE-A is Leap Ansys, with Sam Nardella, Senior Application Engineer at the careers’ expo.

“We had a lot of interest from students,” he said. “We got to know what some of them want to do next year. I would call it a success.”

On the subject of success, it’s not just the winning teams that are successful at FSAE-A , it is every team that enters because every team learns from the experience and every team member gains that added real life knowledge that companies are seeking.

“I have been to many events representing Tesla’s talent acquisition team, and for me personally, this was by far the best in terms of the quality of talent that we encountered,” said Stuart van Heerden, Lead Recruiter Pacific for Tesla.

“To take part in this event generally means a large commitment over and above normal study, where students apply theoretical learnings into real world

18 | December 2023

Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) 2023 | Feature

Photos: Jenny Adams and Rhys Clarke - highlycontagious@gmail.com applications. This means they need to overcome real challenges and problems, both during development and during the event itself.

“This is identical to the pressure and challenges that they will face in the workplace. We were super impressed by the level of engineering, innovation, commitment, and team spirit displayed this year, especially when considering the disruption to knowledge transfer caused by COVID. “It is no surprise that Tesla’s current workforce includes a large FSAE-A alumni, both in Australia and the US, and we expect that to continue to grow. Thank you for all those who spent some time connecting with us during the event, and we look forward to seeing everyone again in 2024!”

Sam Moorehead and Ned Baddeley, both past FSAE-A competitors, were part of an engineering design assessment group and Ned who is an aero specialist noted that not many cars had aero probably due to its cost and difficulty. But one of the outstanding teams in their group was the University of Tasmania as while they didn’t have huge resources, they made the best of what they had and they knew their processes and what was needed, and importantly they followed through.

In the engineering design event, it was the University of Auckland who finished first in the EV section, and it was Edith Cowan University who was first in IC. One of the central pillars of the event is that FSAE-A aims to teach students how a business operates, which is more than the engineering aspect, it covers the wider scope of manufacturing, these lessons carry into the real world making FSAE-A students the most employable.

Another of the assessments that is part of the event is the cost report, which centres around manufacturing costs for the vehicle and in this event the top teams were the University of Sydney for IC and the University of Queensland for EV. According to the assessment panel the cost reports saw a massive improvement from last year to this year in terms of quality of submissions. More than half the teams gave the assessors around 90 percent of what was asked, and they said that made their jobs so much easier.

The University of Sydney took out first place in IC in both the g cost and business presentation assessments.

www.saea.com.au

VTE | 19

Feature | Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) 2023

“Yes, we did alright even though we had a couple of glitches on the Saturday, which meant we didn’t complete the skid pan. It was a minor wiring issue,” said Greg Elder who is with the University of Sydney team. He works with the team all year and helps them to understand the practicalities of designing and then making parts.

“They did well in the statics, and they did a good time in the endurance. I think they are very happy with that.

“It was good for us considering it was the last car that we’re building with IC.” This year there were just five internal combustion engine cars, not surprising as this is the last year that IC competition will be conducted. Unfortunately, the team from the Australian National University was forced to withdraw as was the team from the Vellore Institute of Technology in Chennai, India.

There were 23 EVs, and six autonomous vehicles these were all from Australia with two from Victoria, two from New South Wales and two from Queensland.

This is the largest number of autonomous vehicles so far and it is expected that other universities will be working on similar vehicles for the future.

As we say farewell to the era of IC it was encouraging to see such a large contingent of EVs filling the gap with several teams from overseas, two teams from Taiwan – a third had entered but was forced to withdraw, there were two from New Zealand and one from Indonesia.

Two Australian teams were unable to compete in the event; Melbourne University Racing and Western Sydney, though Melbourne University did attend but the car was not able to compete at track events.

Teach students how to be brave!

Dr Fatma Al-Widyan is the only female Faculty Advisor for the Formula SAE-A competition. Commencing this role in 2019, Fatma is committed to changing the scenery with her University of Technology Sydney team of 60 students.

She is determined to be the best role model for her young charges, providing inspiration and opportunities for students but acknowledges that this requires a significant number of hours and an enormous amount of energy. Starting with barely any female students on the team in 2019 to now over 10, Fatma is passionate to create an environment to improve female experience.

Her messaging to students is simple - it’s not just about the Formula vehicle it’s about firstly building a successful team and then designing a good car.

Communication is key, and women in the team bring many important disciplines such as marketing, business, commercial and of course, engineering skills. Fatma has a female student studying two degrees – medicine and mechanical engineering. Naturally she is the team’s first aid representative but is committed to learn how to design, build, drive and maintain a vehicle.

It’s the blend of many skills and talented students that makes a team a successful one. Her motto is to always make room for females to participate and be creative about it. Whet their appetite and they will develop their own passion!

In Fatma’s opinion this has been the best Formula SAE-A she has attended, it was well organised, the volunteers were really helpful with students, and she acknowledges that it wouldn’t be easy dealing with the next generation of students. She’s a great advocate for the competition, and she loves it because it’s a real live project, students learn practical skills, and in the end, they learn from experienced working professionals that devote their time to this initiative and finally it’s all about learning from your mistakes!

20 | December 2023

Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) 2023 | Feature

Back Stories

Jayden Huynh

No doubt there are so many back stories to FSAE-A, most of which will never come to light, but these are a few that show the toils, troubles and tenacity of our teams.

Mechanical engineering student and race car driver for UNSW Redback Racing E63.

Success is not fearing failure

Racing for Tom QUT Motorsport A86 Tom Hardyman 17/6/19 to 22/4/2020 QUT Motorsport found a way to remember one of their fellow team members Tom Hardyman who died at the age of just 21 years old.

As a young 8-year-old, Jayden was told his haemophilia was too severe to become a “race driver”. His legs failed him numerous times, but that didn’t stop him racing down the hallways in his shiny red wheelchair throughout high school. His mother says she remembers vividly how happy he was pushing those wheels firmly to the ground and going super-fast around the school yard.

Tom was an engineering student specialising in vehicle dynamics who died of cancer.

He was a passionate McLaren and Lando Norris fan, so the team not only put his name on the rear spoiler, but the car was painted in McLaren colours and named Lando.

Unnamed driver and team

University of Auckland E47

One of the teams and the driver, both of which will remain unnamed, had a red mist moment during the skid pan event.

The University of Auckland had their car air freighted from NZ but when they went to pick it up, they saw the state of crate which had been squashed in transit.

The car stopped during the test and the driver was so upset he hit the dashboard with his hands. His crew came over to try to restart the car couldn’t and so it was pushed off.

The driver had hit the ‘kill switch’ when he took out his frustration on the dashboard.

They were afraid of what may have been damaged. Fortunately, only the front driver’s side of the spoiler had suffered though it was badly bent and required a lot of work.

Luckily, they had a few days up their sleeves and with the use of Monash’s engineering area were able to fix it before the event.

UQ Racing E42 The team mounted their energy meter on backwards and had to reinstall it though it would be unfair if we didn’t mention that they were not the only team to do that.

Arjuna EV UGM E71 This team travelled all the way from Indonesia and has only been a part of the FSAE event for a few years, they had to send their vehicle to Australia by ship and when it arrived the chassis had developed a bit rust due to its voyage on the high salty seas.

While some only saw his ‘disability’, he saw a chequered flag in his future, so with pure determination, Jayden pushed past every obstacle, attending every hydrotherapy and physiotherapy session until he forced his legs to get stronger.

In 2018, he bravely trialled a new medication and took it without any hesitation. He desperately needed something to get him out of his wheelchair and into the cockpit of a race car.

He started walking, then running and finally racing.

Two years later, Jayden set his sights on chasing that dream and submitted his application to join the UNSW Redback Racing team. Out of many others who applied for the role, Jayden was chosen to be their designated driver.

He knew from then on, his dream to be a race driver was closer than he’d imagined.

So there he was competing in USNW’s newly built electric formula-student race car, the RB-23.

He was living out his dreams studying mechanical engineering at UNSW and becoming a race driver at this wonderful event.

A student with a disability chasing his dreams and never ever giving up.

www.saea.com.au

VTE | 21

Feature | Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) 2023 Results

FORMULA SAE-A 2023 TEAMS Internal Combustion vehicles • • • • • • •

Edith Cowan University, ECU Racing, Australia The Australian National University (Withdrawn), ANU Formula, Australia The University of Sydney, Sydney Motorsport, Australia Tokyo Denki University, TDU Racing, Japan University of Waikato, WESMO, New Zealand Western Sydney University, Western Sydney Formula SAE, Australia Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai (withdrawn), Zuura Formula Racing, India

Electric vehicles • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Curtin University, Curtin Motorsport Team, Australia Griffith University, Griffith Racing Team, Australia Monash University, Monash Motorsport, Australia National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Tech Racing, Taiwan National Taiwan University, NTU Racing, Taiwan National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, (withdrawn), NYCU Vulpes Racing, Taiwan Queensland University of Technology, QUT Motorsport, Australia RMIT University, RMIT Electric Racing, Australia Swinburne University of Technology, Team Swinburne, Australia The University of Adelaide, Adelaide University Motorsport Team, Australia The University of Auckland, The University of Auckland Formula SAE Team, New Zealand The University of Melbourne, MUR Motorsports, Australia The University of Newcastle, NU Racing, Australia The University of Western Australia, UWA Motorsport, Australia Universitas Gadjah Mada, Arjuna EV UGM, Indonesia University of Canterbury, University of Canterbury Motorsport, New Zealand University of New South Wales, UNSW Redback Racing, Australia University of Queensland, UQ Racing, Australia University of South Australia, UniSA Motorsport, Australia University of Tasmania, UTAS Motorsports, Australia University of Technology Sydney, UTS Motorsports, Australia University of Western Australia, UWA Motorsport Team, Australia University of Wollongong, UOW Motorsport, Australia UNSW Canberra, Academy Racing, Australia

Autonomous vehicles • Monash University, Monash Motorsport, Australia • Queensland University of Technology, QUT Motorsport, Australia • Swinburne University of Technology, Team Swinburne, Australia • University of Queensland, UQ Racing Formula SAE Team, Australia • University of New South Wales, UNSW Redback Racing, Australia • University of Technology Sydney, UTS Motorsports, Australia 22 | December 2023

Entrants & Results Congratulations to every team that competed in the Formula SAE-A 2023 competition! Your participation made the event a resounding success. The teams showcased incredible ingenuity under pressure and gained invaluable real-world experience from dedicated volunteers. Well done to all!

For a full list of all results visit: www.saea.com.au/results-2023

Final Results OVERALL 1ST, 2ND, 3RD PLACE RESULTS 1st Place

2nd Place 3rd Place

IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Sydney -

EV

University of Canterbury

University of NSW Sydney

University of Queensland

BUSINESS PRESENTATION IC

University of Sydney

Edith Cowan University

-

EV

Monash University

University of Newcastle

University of NSW Sydney

COST IC

University of Sydney

Edith Cowan University

-

EV

University of Queensland

University of Western Australia

University of Auckland

ENGINEERING DESIGN IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Sydney -

EV

University of Auckland

Monash University University of Canterbury

ACCELERATION

ADF Careers

IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Sydney -

EV

University of Auckland

Monash University Swinburne University

Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A) 2023 Results | Feature

SPECIAL SPONSOR AWARDS

University of Technology Sydney Awarded to the team that overcame a number of significant issues and maintained great team spirit throughout their challenges

University of Western Australia Awarded to the team that best uses simulation

The National Taiwan University Awarded to the team that makes a distinct contribution. The team re-built a complete battery pack in just 2 days

Monash University Awarded to Formula SAE-A participants who demonstrate excellence in automation and engineering. Outstanding demonstration of perseverance under pressure

SKID PAD 1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Waikato

-

EV

University of Auckland

University of Newcastle

University of Canterbury

EFFICIENCY IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Sydney

-

EV

University of South Australia

University of Canterbury

University of Queensland

ENDURANCE IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Sydney

-

EV

University of Adelaide

University of NSW Sydney

University of Tasmania

AUTOCROSS IC

Edith Cowan University

University of Sydney

-

EV

University of Auckland

University of Newcastle

University of NSW Sydney

www.saea.com.au

VTE | 23

Feature | Applied EV

Upwardly mobile Formula SAE-A is a valuable conduit for companies like Applied EV, companies that are on an upward trajectory in the new and connected world of automotive.

Some eight years ago Applied EV was a small company on a mission to revolutionise transport under founders Julian Broadbent and Shane Ambry. Before starting this venture, Mr Broadbent was General Motors Director for Global Advanced Planning, based in Detroit for around about four years.

Applied EV is now a leader in vehicle control system technologies for Software Defined Machines, the company designs safety-rated control systems for transport applications using software and electronics to accelerate commercialisation of autonomous applications.

Its core technology, Digital Backbone, is a centralized vehicle control system built on proprietary software and supporting hardware, allowing for rapid software application engineering.

Built on Applied EV’s proprietary software and supporting hardware, Digital Backbone allows for rapid software application development, engineering, and configuration, by providing a programmable API (Application Programming Interface), within an SDK (Software Development Kit).

The solution sets a new benchmark for control systems and solves key global transport challenges – carbon reduction, vehicle safety, transport labour shortages; and facilitates new business models based on Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

When Mr Broadbent and Ambry started the company, it employed just a handful of people but since those early days the company has expanded, now employing around 130, of which there’s roughly 110 engineers but more are needed that’s when they turned to SAE-A, and Formula SAE-A. “A number of our employees have been involved in SAE-A and we heard good things about it and that’s how we became aware of Formula SAE-A,” Mr Broadbent said.

As such, Applied EV has been very proactive in the recruitment sphere and acknowledges being a part of Formula SAE-A aims to support the future of Australia’s talent and bring potential candidates into their ecosystem.

Roles at Applied EV come in all forms and predominantly cover electronics, software, fabrication, mechanical engineering, mechatronics and operations, and all types of automotive.

“We’re always looking for great talent. It’s not just the skills, it’s also teamwork, problem-solving, and thinking on the run. We look for people who are passionate about technology, innovation and mobility; and who can work collaboratively to deliver well-integrated, high-quality autonomous electric vehicles,” Mr Broadbent explained.

Employing approximately 70 percent engineers across the business’ workforce, the company has an open onsite area at their Melbourne head office and has taken a position at Lang Lang Proving Ground in Victoria, which ranks among the world’s most extensive vehicle proving grounds.

“Because we are working with the automotive industry on a global scale, the state-of-the-art test environment at the automotive proving ground provides an internationally recognised test environment to showcase our solutions,” Mr Broadbent said.

Julian Broadbent

24 | December 2023

While the most common perception in the market is autonomous driving as passenger cars or robotic

Applied EV | Feature

taxis from automotive companies, Mr Broadbent says the initial market opportunity for Applied EV is commercial and logistics applications which he believes will be the first utilisation of autonomous vehicle technology.

“Despite the perception of high-tech and autonomous technology being spearheaded globally, building brighter transport futures extends the boundaries of cars and taxis,” he said.

“Australia’s need to start automating mining operations proved to be a successful use case for beginning with logistics and commercial applications.

For example, addressing the shortage of drivers and utilising our technology to do dirty, dull, difficult and dangerous jobs; this is where the impact and opportunity are most profound.”

Applied EV is already working on several programs in parallel for industrial and logistics fleet operations to support the industry towards driverless business models.

“The relationship we have with automakers or OEMs is very important in terms of utilising an existing platform to create a solution for fully autonomous electric vehicles,” Mr Broadbent explained.

Applied EV supplies and integrates the proprietary Digital Backbone technology into OEM vehicles and partners with OEMs to manufacture and supply a vehicle platform based on a production vehicle.

The final product, an autonomous ready vehicle, is then leased under a Mobility as a Service model to customers for autonomous vehicle driving applications.

“It’s a one plus one equals three scenario,” Mr Broadbent said.

The automation at scale sees reduced manufacturing and production costs for OEMs, a solution for talent shortages, and significant carbon reduction throughout the value chain.

While Digital Backbone is already a world-first for the industry, the company plans to transition the solution to become universal; something no third-party has been able to achieve so far. www.saea.com.au

VTE | 25

Technical | Feature

Merle Wood1,* Mohammed Elhenawy2 , David Alderson3 and Jack Pinnow1 Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland, Australia Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland, Queensland University of Technology 3 WSP, Queensland, Australia * Corresponding author: merle.y.wood@tmr.qld.gov.au 1

2

Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot – Safety Evaluation of Vehicle to Infrastructure applications 1. Project Background The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) aimed to build public awareness and to validate the safety impact of C-ITS technology, so that TMR can understand the potential of increased C-ITS uptake. The Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot (ICVP) enabled TMR to grow organisational readiness for future widespread deployment in Queensland.

C-ITS technology allows vehicles to communicate with other vehicles, roadside infrastructure, and transport management systems in real-time. The connected vehicles and roadside infrastructure communicate at 10 Hz enabling a vehicle’s path to be identified using high-resolution location data.

When a driver approaches a risky on-road situation wheresafety or efficiency may be compromised, visual and, in some cases, audio warnings are provided on a Human-Machine Interface (HMI). For example, drivers were shown advanced red-light warnings only if they were driving too fast to stop at an upcoming red traffic light (see Fig. 1).

The roadside station would have sent the signal phasing and timing data to the vehicle station which determines the reaction/ stopping distance required based on the vehicle movement. If the driver was driving at a slower speed, they did not receive this safety warning.

To understand the impacts and gather public perspective of the technology, the ICVP ran between September 2020 and September 2021, involving 355 public participants in Ipswich driving their own vehicles retrofitted with C-ITS technology for a period of nine months. The pilot included a centralised cloudbased service covering 300 square kilometres and 29 TMR-owned signalised intersections in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.

Figure 1. Warning message shown before a red light. www.saea.com.au

In the ICVP field operational testing (FOT), participants experienced safety information or warnings for six different use cases: •

Road Work Warning (RWW) - Alerts drivers there is a risk they are travelling at an unsafe speed for upcoming road works, giving them time to slow down or change lanes. It also alerts drivers if they exceed the speed limit within the road works.

•

Back-of-Queue (BoQ) warning - Alerts drivers there is a risk they are travelling at an unsafe speed for an upcoming traffic queue on the motorway.

•

Road Hazard Warning (RHW) - Alerts drivers that there is a risk they are travelling at an unsafe speed for a hazard up ahead, such as water on the road, road closures or a crash.

•

Advanced Red-Light Warning (ARLW) - Alerts the driver that they are likely to violate the red-light at a signalised intersection.

•

Turning Warning for Vulnerable Road users (TWVR) - Alerts drivers to pedestrians or bicycle riders potentially crossing at an upcoming signalised intersection.

•

In-vehicle Speed (IVS) - Provides drivers with information about the current speed limit.

IVS was always shown when the participants were driving within the pilot area. Since there is already a respected body of literature found on the performance of IVS [1], the safety impact of IVS was not investigated.

The other five C-ITS use cases were novel applications in terms of testing within a field operational test (FOT). The majority of international pilot studies were undertaken in a controlled testing environment (i.e. predefined routes) or a simulator. The intent of this FOT was to quantify the safety impact and thus address this current gap in knowledge.

Error! Reference source not found.There are two levels of warning as shown in Error!

Reference source not found.. Medium warnings (with a yellow background and words indicating the nature of the hazard), which informs drivers of a possible emergency situation. High warnings (with a red background and words indicating a recommended action) inform the driver

APAC-21-131

ABSTRACT Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology and iMOVE Australia, undertook an evaluation of the safety benefits of a Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS) through the Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot (ICVP). C-ITS vehicles, roadside infrastructure and cloud services share data, which is used to generate visual and/or audible warnings that are intended to improve a driver’s situational awareness.

The ICVP included 355 participants with retrofitted equipment in their vehicles, 29 instrumented traffic-lights and a cloud service covering 300 square kilometres. Based on the driving condition and approaching speed, a driver could experience warnings about redlights, pedestrians at traffic-lights, roadworks, road hazards, and back-of-queues on motorways. Posted speeds – static, variable, school and roadworks speeds were also displayed throughout the pilot area.

Each participant drove for nine months and experienced warnings for six of these months creating treatment and baseline data, while a subgroup formed a control group that were never exposed to the warnings. This enabled the comparison of their driving data with and without the warnings. Three hypotheses were evaluated: lower speed, smoother speed variation and fewer near- crashes.

The driving data showed positive safety results, overall, demonstrating improved driver behaviour. Warnings at roadwork, red-lights and pedestrians at traffic-light situations were found to reduce and smooth speeds.

From these use cases, assuming 100 per cent penetration of C-ITS in vehicles, the networkwide crash reduction factors were estimated to be up to to 6.8% of fatal crashes and 6.6% of crashes involving serious injuries.

KEYWORDS: Cooperative intelligent transport systems; safety impact assessment; field operational testing of an emergency situation. For RWW, ARLW and TWVR, the visual symbols were complemented with the audible tone.

Data was collected and transmitted through the Vehicle Intelligent Transport System Station (V-ITS-S) installed in participants’ vehicles, allowing the analysis team to evaluate drivers’ responses to the warnings and to estimate the likely impacts on driving behaviour and crashes. Finally, the potential crash reduction factor for each case, assuming 100% market penetration in Southeast Queensland (SEQ), was estimated to inform future investment.

VTE | 27

Feature | Technical

Safety use case

Medium-level warning display

High-level warning display

RWW

BoQ

RHW

Not applicable

the drive. Both longitudinal and lateral accelerations are taken into count. The concept is explained by Eq.(1). A lower value of celeration indicated a smoother driving profile, most likely with less abrupt braking and accelerating over the course of a drive.

Where

Not applicable

Nm is the length (i.e. the number of data points) of mth event amn is the measured total acceleration at time stamp n of mth event calculated as:

ARLW

TWVR

Not applicable

Table 1. Display icon of FOT safety use cases.

A user perception study comprising of questinnaires, interviews, and focus groups completed by the pilot participants was also conducted [2].

Simulator studies in the CARRS-Q advanced driving simulator, together with self-report user perceptions of the warnings, were also completed for two vehicle-to-vehicle use cases: emergency brake light (EEBL) and slow/stopped vehicle ahead (SSV). These use cases were unable to be conducted as part of the FOT; however, the vehicle-to-vehicle use cases and their impacts were considered relevant to an evaluation of C-ITS (refer to [3]).

2. Study Methodology The study design of the ICVP followed the FESTA Handbook [4] and the details regarding the pilot design were documented in C- ITS Pilot Study Plan [5, 6]. The primary research question for the safety evaluation to answer was: Does the system improve road safety?

It was expected the C-ITS warnings produced by the system would result in a positive impact on driving behaviour and, consequently, lead to a reduction in the number and severity of crashes.

Three surrogate safety measure hypotheses were defined: 1. Lower average speed – the average speed (normalised by speed limit) on the approach to and/or within use case events is lower when the HMI is enabled (i.e., when the HMI was on).

2. Lower celeration – the value of the celeration on the approach to and/or within use case events is lower when the HMI is enabled. Celeration is defined as the average of absolute acceleration and deceleration values of moving vehicles, as an indicator of the smoothness of 28 | December 2023

cm is the estimated celeration of mth event

3. Reduce near-crashes – the likelihood of near-crashes on the approach to and/or within use case events is reduced when the HMI is enabled.

2.1 Experimental Design The pilot successfully recruited 355 drivers to participate in the ICVP for a nine-month period. The participants were randomly assigned to different experimental conditions for statistical rigour and comparative purposes. One group of participants drove their own vehicle for six months with the retrofitted C-ITS system to experience the safety warnings (treatment condition) and for three months without the warnings displayed on HMI (baseline condition). Another group of participants was assigned to a control condition whereby no warnings were shown, to account for seasonal effects and balance the driving observations in the baseline condition.

Of the 355 recruited participants, only 349 participants were found to produce sufficient valid objective data for analysis. The number of participants (n) assigned to each group and the duration of each condition is shown in Figure 2.

To ensure sufficient driving data were collected, participants recruited typically drove a minimum of three hours per week within the pilot area. The driving data showed that most participants consistently met this requirement during their nine-months of participation.

Treatment First (n=160) Baseline First (n=154) Control (n=35) Time months

Figure 2. Sample size and duration of experimental conditions.

2.2 Scenario-based Assessment The safety evaluation focused on participants’ driving behaviour (referred to as a “scenario”).

The scenarios covered the time when the vehicle was on a relevant approach to an event, within an event zone and 30 seconds after the driver had passed by the event.

A single journey could consist of multiple scenarios when driving within the pilot area as illustrated in Figure 3.

For comparative purposes and to increase statistical rigour of the findings, scenarios with (treatment) or without (control/baseline) HMI warnings were included in the safety analyses.

Figure 3. Example of Treatment participant encountering multiple scenarios in a single journey.

3. Findings of Safety Impact After the driving data were processed into over 100,000 valid scenarios, the three safety surrogate measures were analysed for the five use cases. Statistical modelling was employed to determine if the speed, celeration and near-crashes hypotheses were true.

Other environmental factors, such as the prevailing road conditions and participants’ demographic characteristics, were also considered in the models.

3.1 Average Normalised Speed The speed measurements for each scenario were divided by the displayed speed limit to obtain a normalised speed ratio which allowed for the analysis of different road types. A normalised speed value above 1 means the observed speed exceeded the displayed speed limit.

RWW, TWVR and ARLW showed a beneficial impact on the average normalised speed, with a statistically significant reduction of 1-2% in driving speeds as participants approached the safety event as is shown in Table 2. Although 1-2% change might not be considered “significant” in magnitude, the statistical testing indicated that the reduction was consistently observed across the participants who had the HMI enabled. Other road safety research indicates that for every kilometre reduction in speed, the risk of serious injury crashes is reduced, especially in high-speed environment [7].

The RWW within the road work zone was found to reduce speeds by 3.1% reduction when the HMI was enabled. RWW event warnings could be issued multiple times within the road work zone, serving as a

Technical | Feature

continuous reminder when the Treatment participants exceeded the road work speed limit.

BoQ and RHW did not show any significant difference between the participants with or without the HMI enabled. The study was thus unable to draw any conclusive findings due to the variability in traffic conditions found during these events. For BoQ, the dynamic nature of the queue on the motorway was difficult to capture in the model. For RHW, the low number of scenarios contributed to inconclusive findings.

Use case

Impact of C-TIS warnings on average speed

RWW

1.1% reduction (approaching work zone) 3.1% reduction (within work zone event)

BoQ

Nonsignificant change

RHW

Nonsignificant change

TWVR

1.2% reduction

ARLW

1.9% reduction

Table 2. Speed comparison between Treatment and Control.

3.2 Celeration Upon receiving a warning, the average deceleration/ acceleration can be an indicator of participants’ preparedness for an event. A reduction in the Treatment group celeration can suggest the warnings provided the participant with more time to adjust their speed, rather than braking or accelerating abruptly closer to the event.

As shown in Table 3, RWW within the work site, BoQ, TWVR and ARLW reported reductions between 0.97.9% in celeration for the Treatment participants, suggesting the warnings were effective in minimising acceleration or deceleration.

In contrast, RWW on the approach increased celeration by 4.7%. Investigation of the driving profile for RWW on the approach, as shown in Figure 4, revealed that the Treatment participants reacted to the advanced warning by braking prior to the road works to reach the downstream road work speeds, compared to the control group who tended not to react. The reaction could be viewed as a positive safety outcome despite the higher celeration.

Use case

Impact of C-TIS warnings on average celeration

RWW

4.7% increase (approaching work zone) 3.7% reduction (within work zone)

BoQ

2.8% reduction

RHW

Nonsignificant change

TWVR

7.9% reduction

ARLW

0.9% reduction

Table 3. Celeration comparison between Treatment and Control conditions. www.saea.com.au

on small time windows around the warnings, the chance of observing a near-crash is even narrower, and (2) the absence of video footage data to support calibration of the models to local driving conditions.

3.4 Additional ARLW observations The ARLW was investigated in relation to other safety outcomes: Figure 4. Example driving responses through a road work site.

The evidence of a large reduction in celeration, combined with a reduction in average speed, indicate that TWVR had the potential to significantly improve driver’s awareness of a crossing pedestrian.

The demographic regressors, such as gender, age group and driver licence type, were considered in the speed and celeration models, however their influences were found to be nonsignificant in most of the use cases.

This finding suggested that the safety impact was more strongly associated with the the use case warnings, rather than drivers’ demographic characteristics.

Driving environment factors, such as rainfall, daylight and speed limit, were found to be statistically significant in some of the RWW, BoQ and RHW models. However, their influences were considered minor, as their coefficient values were lower than the presence of HMI warning. For TWVR and ARLW, the approach speed which triggered the warning was found to be a significant regressor in all the speed and celeration models. This finding suggested that approaching an intersection at a higher speed would result in a higher mean normalised speed and celeration.

3.3 Near-crashes As there were no crashes reported in the proximity of the safety events during the pilot, near-crashes were proposed as a surrogate measure to infer the likelihood of being involved in a crash. A near- crash is defined as an event that requires a rapid, evasive manoeuvre by participant to avoid a crash. A rapid, evasive manoeuvre is defined as excessive steering, braking, or accelerating that can cause discomfort to the passenger [10].

As near-crashes have not been used to evaluate any C-ITS applications around the world, three near-crash analysis methodologies which had been applied in other naturalistic driving studies were tested in parallel. The three methodologies employed were kinematic performance thresholds, machine learning models and driving volatility measures. All these methodologies focused on the value range of longitudinal acceleration and deceleration, lateral acceleration and yaw rate logged by the vehicle station.

From these three methods, only BoQ had a reduction in near- crashes. There are two possible reasons: (1) near-crashes are very rare and severe events and by only focusing

Reduce red-light running. As a red-light violation is a serious traffic offence and could result in a serious safety outcome, the occurrences of red-light running were compared between the Treatment and Control conditions as an extension analysis.

The analysis suggested a positive outcome, with 22% reduction found in red-light running between the two conditions.

Fewer high-level approach warnings after a medium approach warning. This could be seen as driver’s compliance with the initial warning, as they would slow down attentively to avoid the next level of warnings. Treatment participants were 27% less likely to receive a high-level warning after they received the medium-level warning.

4. Potential Crash Reduction Converting the safety impact estimates into crash reduction factors assists with community communication regarding the effects of C- ITS. The crash reduction factors were scaled up to assume a 100% market penetration of C-ITS in vehicles in Southeast Queensland (SEQ). To this end, the crash reduction for each use case was estimated.

4.1. Crash Reduction Relevant to Use Cases To estimate a crash reduction rate for each use case, a widely accepted speed scaling model, known as the Nilsson Power Model [9], was adopted. The main tenet of Nilsson’s Power Model is “the safety of the transport system is strongly related to the speed levels in the system”. The premise of the model is that a small reduction in speed adopted by the driving population leads to large and measurable reduction in risk. Furthermore, the model is flexible in that it can approximate a reduction of different injury severities (i.e., slight injury and fatal injury) at different locations (i.e., urban arterial vs freeway). The formula is rearranged to calculate the reduction in injuries from the HMI technology is Eq.(2):

Where

𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑𝐻𝑀𝐼 𝑂𝑁 is a sample of the mean speed values where the HMI is enabled (i.e., HMI-on) 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑𝐻𝑀𝐼 OFF is the mean speed values where the HMI is not enabled (i.e., HMI-off) C is an exponent dependant on the injury severity and location type in Table 4.

VTE | 29

Feature | Technical

Road type

Fatal crashes

Serious injury crashes

Use case applicable

Rural roads/ freeways

4.1

2.6

BoQ

Urban/ residential roads

2.6

1.5

TWVR, ARLW

All roads

3.5

2.0

RWW, RHW

Table 4. Exponents applied in Nilsson power model for crash reduction determination [10].

As only RWW, ARLW and TWVR demonstrated a significant speed impact in the FOT, only these three use cases were scaled for crash reduction estimation. As shown in Table 5, the reduction rates ranged from 3-11%, with the fatal crash type being higher than the serious injuries type, due to the “power” for fatalities always being higher than other injury types. As expected from the speed analysis, RWW in the event zone showed the highest reduction rate for the fatal and serious injuries types.

Based on the driving data from the participants, the ARLW warnings could reduce the likelihood of running red traffic signals and thus a potential intersection crash by 22%.

Use case (targeting area)

Fatalities

Serious injuries

RWW (approach work zone)

5.3%

3.0%

RWW (within work zone)

11.4%

6.8%

TWVR

6.1%

4.3%

ARLW (approach red-light)

9.7%

5.9%

ARLW (red-light running)

22.0%

22.0%

Table 5. Reduction factor for relevant crash types.

4.2 Overall Crash Reduction for FOT Use Cases In order to determine a crash reduction rate in SEQ, the crash reduction factors were applied to related fatal and serious injury crashes within a five-year period (from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2021). A lower estimate was based on crash types that have a direct attribute to the use case as the crash factor – for example crashes caused by roadworks. The upper estimate considers the general environment, for example all crashes that occurred within the proximity of signalised intersections.

Table 6 summarises the crash reduction rates for SEQ. The three use cases could cumulatively reduce up to 6.8% of fatal crashes and 6.6% of serious injury crashes.

RWW resulted in a very low range in the overall crash reduction due to the underreporting of crashes in work zones [11]. A crash occurred within the work zone could be miscounted when the construction work did not directly contribute to the crash.

Given there were a total of 526 fatalities and 20,826 serious injuries in SEQ over the five-year period, the use cases could have prevented up to 36 fatalities and 1,375 serious injuries crashes.

30 | December 2023

Use case (targeting area) RWW (approach work zone) RWW (within work zone) TWVR

Fatalities

Serious injuries

0.0%

0.0% - 0.2%

0.0% - 0.6%

0.0% - 0.2%

0.2%

0.1%

ARLW (approach red-light)

0.2% - 0.4%

0.4% - 1.0%

ARLW (red-light running)

1.0% - 5.6%

1.2% - 5.1%

Cumulative Total

1.4% - 6.8%

1.7% - 6.6%

Table 6. Crash reduction factors for SEQ.

5. Conclusion The safety evaluation of five C-ITS use cases - RWW, ARLW, TWVR, BoQ and RHW - was conducted using the driving data of 355 participants retroffited with C-ITS equipment in the ICVP for nine months.

RWW was highly effective in reducing speed within the roadwork zone, likely due to the provision of the current roadworks speed limits and an alert when this was exceeded.

On the approach to roadworks, the early warning resulted in a lower speed and also greater deceleration; the control group tended to not react prior to the roadworks.

The approach ARLW and TWVR reduced participant’s speed and celeration. A 22% reduction in ARLW in event was also observed.

The dynamic spatiotemporal nature of BoQ on motorway’s created challenges for the safety analysis. While there was no identified speed difference between the groups, the warnings encouraged smoother travel through the events indicating participants’ greater awareness of the risk.

Few participants encountered RHW, and as a result, the statistical modelling did not yield conclusive findings.

Based on the RWW, ARLW and TWVR warning, the estimated cumulative crash reduction factor was 6.8% of fatal crashes and 6.6% of serious injury crashes.

Acknowledgements The ICVP was delivered by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, and supported by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission, Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland, iMOVE Australia, Telstra, Ipswich City Council, and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the safety investigation undertaken by the core project team members from CARRS-Q and QUT more broadly. Particular thanks to Associate Professor Ioni Lewis, Narjes Zarei, Md Mostafizur Rahman Komol, Dr Marc Miska and Dr Andy Bond.

The team was grateful to receive continuous technical advice from subject matter experts (SMEs) including Dr Miranda Blogg from

TMR, SMEs from CARRS-Q at QUT including Professor Andry Rakotonirainy, Professor Narelle Haworth, Associate Professor Ronald Schroeter, Dr Gregoire Larue, as well as external to QUT SMEs including Dr Anna Chevalier and Professor Michael Regan.

The project team would also like to acknowledge all members of the QUT Participant Management Team including Dr David Rodwell, Dr Michael Pascale, Alexandra Neary, and Francine Smith for ensuring the smooth management of study participants throughout the ICVP.

References 1. S. Doecke and J.E. Woolley, Cost Benefit Analysis of Intelligent Speed Assist, Centre for Automotive Safety Research, The University of Adelaide, 2010.

2. M. Pascale, D. Rodwell, B. Ho, and et al. Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot: Summary of the subjective evaluation study findings, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), Queensland University of Technology, 2021.

3. G. Larue, S. Demmel, M. Pascale, and et al.

Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot: Summary of the simulator study findings, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q), Queensland University of Technology, 2022.

4. FOT-Net and CARTRE, FESTA Handbook Version 7, Field Operational Testing Networking and Methodology Promotion and Coordination of Automated Road Transport Deployment for Europe, 2018.

5. A. Rakotonirainy, R. Schroeter, S. Demmel, and et al. C-ITS pilot study plan release 5: Milestone M009C.1, (Internal document as part of project deliverables), Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS- Q), Queensland University of Technology, 2018.

6. Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot safety evaluation: Summary report, Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland, 2022.

7. S.D. Doecke, M.R.J. Baldock, C.N. Kloeden, and et al. Impact speed and the risk of serious injury in vehicle crashes, Accident Analysis & Prevention, vol. 144, 105629, 2020.

8. J.M. Hankey, M. A. Perez and J.A. McClafferty.

Description of the SHRP 2 naturalistic database and the crash, near- crash, and baseline data sets. Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016.

9. G. Nilsson, The effects of speed limits on traffic accidents in Sweden. Dublin, OECD, 1981.

10. M.H. Cameron and R. Elvik, Nilsson’s Power Model connecting speed and road trauma: Applicability by road type and alternative models for urban roads, Accident Analysis & Prevention, vol. 42, no.6, pp. 1908-1915, 2010.

11. R. Blackman, A.K. Debnath and N. Haworth, Understanding vehicle crashes in work zones: Analysis of workplace health and safety data as an alternative to police-reported crash data in Queensland, Australia, Traffic Injury Prevention, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 222-227, 2020.