ITS Now (ITSnow.org) has announced the winners of this year’s ITS Now Innovation Awards, which were judged at Traffex 2024. As well as looking out for innovative features in products, a key element to the judging was the environmental benefits that the equipment or system would have.
Alistair Gollop, Founder of ITS Now, said “We are really pleased to again announce the winners of the annual ITS Now Innovation Awards. We are pleased to have a very worthy winner that demonstrates a range of innovative advancements in a very established segment, that not only provides new technological capabilities, but like all three finalists, also has strong environmental benefits too”.
Third Place – Nomad Traffic Counting Systems
A range of pedestrian and cycle detectors which are discreetly installed into wooden or recycled plastic posts, which are installed adjacent to a footpath or cycleway. The units provide daily updates from the cloud, so that data is easily accessible, allowing active transport modes to be promoted by using accurate information.
Second Place – Vortex IOT – VTX Air
Yes, it does look cool because it’s a bit like Darth Vader, but honestly, that isn’t the reason we chose it! Although the sensors in this air-quality monitor uses pretty standard technology, the aspect that drew our attention was the mesh communications infrastructure they use, so a large number of units can be installed across a city to provide excellent levels of granularity for air quality measurements, without having to use a complicated communications infrastructure.
The 2024 @ITS Now Innovation Award Winner – Yunex Traffic – Actis Traffic Signal
The most impressive aspect for this new traffic signal head is its’ capability of operating at just 1w (albeit in certain conditions), but this has been a holy grail within signals since LED technology were first introduced to the sector. This will have an enormous impact on reducing electrical consumption, particularly when used with Yunex’s Plus+ system. But the innovation doesn’t stop there, the optical units are designed so that no glue is used in the unit’s manufacture, and they also use a toolless design, vastly aiding recycling when they’re life expired. In addition, the body of the signals has been redesigned, with a single door and rear for the three aspects. This has been done to decrease the amount of plastic used, dramatically reducing the resources required to make them. It was interesting to see that even the brackets used to hang the heads, have had a design overhaul, although they retain compatibility with existing pole mounts. The level of detail which Yunex has gone to should be an example to all manufacturers, not just in the ITS sector, that even well- established products can be re-engineered to achieve significant improvements, with enhanced environmental benefits.
To find out more about this year’s award, see the 2024 @ITS Now Innovation Awards episode on the @ITSNow YouTube Channel.
