The prestigious ITS (UK) awards will be held live and in person, and simultaneously streamed online in two weeks in a first for the Society.
The Intelligent Transport Systems Industry Association’s awards ceremony has traditionally been held alongside the President’s Dinner but because of limitations on venue availability, this year it is being run at the end of the ITS (UK) Members’ Day being held at Cubic Transportation Systems’ UK HQ in Salfords, Surrey. The Members Day and Awards are sponsored by Cubic, White Willow Consulting and WSP.
Steve Norris, ITS (UK) President, will host the awards in person at 5pm, but for those who are unable to make it for the free event at Cubic, they can find out who won by watching a live stream via the ITS (UK) website.
Five awards are being handed out during the ceremony. Those shortlisted for the project awards are:
ITS Project of the Year Award:
• CAV Test Bed – Amey Consulting and Transport for West Midlands, Midlands Future Mobility
The Data Hub breaks down the Midlands Future Mobility test route into “scenes”, each with PAS1883-compliant attributes attached, allowing users to plan routes for CAV tests which consider specific parameters
• Connected Digital Roads – COSTAIN
The UK’s first demonstration of ability to directly influence vehicle speeds on a live motorway using connected vehicle technologies, proving the viability of this end-to-end Cooperative Intelligent Transport Service
• Digital Roads – National Highways, WSP and KPMG
The vision for a once-in-a-lifetime digital revolution; harnessing data, technology and connectivity to improve the way the UK Strategic Road Network is designed, built, operated and used
Innovative Use of Technology Award:
• Live Bus Occupancy Information for Passengers – Transport Scotland, Traveline Scotland and Trapeze Group
The project brought together almost every Scottish bus operator to provide on-board occupancy information, allowing passengers to avoid busy buses throughout the peak of the pandemic
• NEVFMA The Network Emissions and Vehicle Flow Management Adjustment project – Aimsun, supported by EarthSense, Yunex Traffic and Oxfordshire County Council for National Highways
Using modelling and ITS to predict and make improvements in traffic flow targeting the mitigation of harmful NO2 emissions on National Highways and local roads in Oxfordshire where contamination has regularly exceeded permitted levels
• Video Analytics Service Platform (VASP) – COSTAIN
Increasing the capability of NH CCTV operators to detect and respond to incidents by seamlessly blending state of the art video analytics from our project partner Vivacity with NH’s mature, largely analogue CCTV system
Inclusive Mobility Award:
• Solar road studs – Clearview Intelligence
These solutions can make a real positive difference to all road users, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Clearview’s SolarLite Active Road studs are a smart, safe and sustainable option for providing guidance and hazard warning to drivers during the hours of darkness, reducing accident rates by over 70%, reducing environmental impact and saving costs.
• Supporting our Local Communities – Yunex Traffic
A number of initiatives to support people who weren’t getting their usual support during the pandemic, including building a pedestrian crossing on the campus of a school providing a learning environment for people with special educational needs, and installing a remote push button pedestrian crossing unit in a garden to help train an assistance dog with learning to cross at a crossing during its training.
The winners of the Rees-Hills Lifetime Achievement and Eric Sampson Early Careers Awards will also be named.
“Last year we only had the option of presenting our awards online,” explained ITS (UK) Secretary General Jennie Martin. “Although we missed out on congratulating the winners in person and all the networking around the event, we made the best of it and it meant many more people got to take part. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to offer both options now we can, and it fits with our policy of not building travel into our events by default.”
The ITS (UK) Members’ Day that precedes the awards ceremony is an informal networking and discussion event which features presentations from members, a discussion about the environmental effects of transport and how technology can mitigate them, and a tour of Cubic’s facility. To take part, sign up here.
(Picture shows last year’s Rees Hills winner Steve Norris, centre, with Jennie Martin and ITS (UK) Chair, Ryan Hood)
