While reducing petrol excise was the headline announcement in this year’s Federal Budget, the Government’s investment in critical mobile infrastructure and future transport should not be overlooked.
Plans to invest $811.8M to improve mobile coverage in regional Australia, signal a bright future for connected cars and road safety – especially when combined with $13.6M for the Office of Future Transport Technology to support the safe and legal deployment of future land transport technologies, including connected and automated vehicles.
Creating a national platform for safety
These investments are a step towards Australia achieving two things. Firstly, creating a national platform which will enable the take up of new connected services for fleet, freight and private vehicles. And secondly, providing the robust infrastructure required to improve vehicle safety and the effectiveness of critical SOS vehicle services.
With 2 out of 3 road fatalities occurring on remote roads and involving a single vehicle, mobile coverage is extremely important for vehicle safety technology that relies on cellular coverage.
Vehicle safety technology such as eCall, used in Intelematics’ ASURE solution, relies on mobile coverage to automatically connect vehicles involved in accidents with emergency services and is designed to significantly decrease emergency response times.
The Government’s regional initiative will address blackspots on up to 8,000km of roads and build on its ongoing regional connectivity program.
A step in the right direction
Many aspects of our lives have been transformed by COVID-19, and our road use is no exception. The pandemic has seen traffic in our regions and our cities become more erratic and unpredictable. People are driving less often, but often driving much further to avoid using public transport. All this creates further need to improve driver safety.
If vehicle safety technology, like eCall, is mandated by policy makers, implemented by vehicle manufacturers and support by the public, Australia’s roads and drivers will be safer. In fact, mandating eCall could reduce the number of road fatalities by up to 200 each year.
The Federal Budget is a step in the right direction. More resilient national networks will improve vehicle safety and pave the way for future technologies including Mobility-as-a-Service applications.
Connected vehicles and new safety technologies have the potential to transform Australian road safety in the same way as seat belts and airbags once did. And we look forward to supporting Australia’s transition towards a bright connected future.
