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Continuing our showcase of the work nominated for the ITS Australia Awards 2021, today we look at the Australia Post Safe Rider Program by Directed Technologies.
Carefully weaving between cars and pedestrians across footpaths and roads, Australia Post riders are an essential service that remain a vulnerable road user segment. Recognising this, Australia Post embarked on a world-first program using digital video telemetry to improve safety outcomes for its fleet of 20,000+ delivery riders. This bespoke system, designed by Directed Technologies marks the largest deployment of a video telemetry systems within Australia's urban landscape.
Australia Post delivers to over 12.3 million locations, with the bulk of these deliveries completed using vehicles classified as high-risk; Ebikes/motorbikes/Electric 3 wheelers. By combining safety metrics with event-based video information, incidents are recorded and available for rider coaching purposes. For the first time depot managers can have verifiable discussions with their riders. Patterns of behaviour are being used to shape driver training and even product design -ie vehicle suspension/loading etc. Panic button and tilt sensors allow for rapid assistance and greater visibility of incidents details for ongoing risk assessment purposes. The sensitive nature of safety metrics prevent disclosure; however, the results show an overwhelmingly positive trend towards reduced rider safety incidents. The program is saving lives.
The move towards increased home delivery ensures ongoing demand for an affordable and proven technology solution for monitoring rider safety and delivery efficiency. In addition, multiple vehicle manufacturers are exploring either port fit or line-fit installation options. Applications for the video data extend beyond safety use cases into urban planning, road and footpath maintenance assessment, spatial and environmental planning activities. Street view is updated annually at best, the safe rider program can collect data daily for our entire national urban landscape! The system is optimised for electric vehicles, which we know will grow in deployment and application.
The Safe Rider video telemetry system provides an affordable enterprise-grade solution with huge potential for expansion into other urban delivery fleets both within Australia and Internationally. The system is readily adaptable to support different vehicle types including vans and trucking fleets. The system is hosted on secure scalable cloud services in AWS and can be readily deployed into other territories. The Web interface can present multiple languages. The chipsets used are certified for use throughout major markets globally. The system data analytics views are configurable without the need for lengthy programming cycles.
A video telemetry system compatible with the Australian fleet of high-risk urban delivery vehicles that can meet an enterprise-grade feature set at an affordable price point simply does not exist. This uniquely Australian deployment, has had to overcome multiple s/w and h/w engineering challenges; Support different operating voltages; GPS and 4G reception reliability within urban canyons. Environmental: vibration/weather/temperature; Fitment design – limited locations; Retro fitment without impacting normal vehicle operation; Video quality in all conditions; low light/rain. So many different disciplines came together spanning; circuit board design/embedded firmware /video system operation/vehicle integration kit design/cloud/web/analytics/electrical engineering/quality and technical installation disciplines.
Until now Australia Post has never had the visibility/digital insight into the field operations of their delivery business. Today they have a baseline dataset for selecting new safer vehicles, optimise the deployment of vehicles across their 270 depots and improve delivery run planning. The next phase of the program could see post-processing of video footage to identify other risks to these trusted riders such as the risk of a dog attack, low branches or other hazards along with delivery rounds. The program has the potential to evolve into the benchmark rider safety program for all urban delivery businesses within Australia.
Located in Melbourne Australia, Directed Technologies is a leading automotive and consumer electronics solutions manufacturer, supplier and developer that distributes leading brands in their chosen categories throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Directed has a proud history of successful deployment of turn-key OEM grade vehicle Multimedia Units (MMU) and telematics solutions for leading global manufacturers.
Today well over 1500 fleets throughout Australia and New Zealand rely on OEM branded Australia manufactured Directed telematics devices and over 275,000 trucks continue to drive the demanding Australian road network with Directed MMUs onboard. This proud record of service is exemplified in our close collaborative and responsive development relationship with multiple OEM’s.
A Systems Engineer at SAGE Automation, George Funnell is a finalist for Young Professional Award
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