ITS NZ action plan released

Action and business plans for the next year or two have been released by ITS NZ.

Its two-year strategy includes being recognised as the pre-eminent industry body for transport technology, to better position New Zealand for transport technology development, strengthening its organisation to increase activity, and increasing membership.

Long-term objectives are to promote and support intelligent transport systems (ITS) within the transportation industry.

ITS has changed significantly in recent years, moving to include all transport technologies such as vehicle technology, communication systems, data analytics, mobility as a service, demand management techniques and more traditional traffic management, the strategy and 2018-19 plan say.

Meanwhile, two research reports launched on May 30 outline a need for the Government to set a strategic vision for intelligent mobility, to prioritise data sets and identify any gaps, help provide greater collaboration around transport data and ensure the right training.

Technology changes require skills training and also impact on occupations. “Paramount among these technologies were autonomous vehicles (AVs), where their level of autonomy and coverage of the national vehicle fleet by 2035, is a useful metric of the overall level of ITS development,” one research paper says.

Occupations considered are transport, ICT and public policy professionals; automotive technicians and other motor trades workers; and drivers.

The presentations came from Chris Bowles of WSP Opus on Data opportunities for intelligent mobility and Julian Williams of BERL and Doug Wilson from the University of Auckland on Technology-related transport skill requirements and availability.

The launch was presented by ITS New Zealand, the NZ Transport Agency and the Transport Knowledge Hub.