Using visual science to reduce the dangers of night driving. This project aims to develop novel tests of visual function relevant to the modern night driving environment. Night driving is challenging for all drivers and has been linked to poor visibility under low light conditions. This project will characterise the visual challenges of the modern night driving environment, develop visual tests that incorporate the dynamic light levels typical of night-time roads and assess the association of th ....Using visual science to reduce the dangers of night driving. This project aims to develop novel tests of visual function relevant to the modern night driving environment. Night driving is challenging for all drivers and has been linked to poor visibility under low light conditions. This project will characterise the visual challenges of the modern night driving environment, develop visual tests that incorporate the dynamic light levels typical of night-time roads and assess the association of these tests with night driving performance. The outcomes will contribute new knowledge regarding dynamic visual processing and the ageing visual system and will inform vision testing, potential interventions to improve visual function for night driving and reduce the dangers of night driving.Read moreRead less
Road safety and Aboriginal people. This study will involve an in-depth examination of factors underlying the high involvement in road crashes by Aboriginal people in Australia. Using mixed methods in six communities across NSW and South Australia it will inform development of new programs aimed at closing the gap in this important area.
Context-aware verification and validation framework for autonomous driving. This project aims to enhance the reliability and safety of emerging self-driving vehicles, through a framework that supports the validation and verification of autonomous driving systems. This project expects to generate new knowledge in areas of software engineering, intelligent transport, and machine learning, using a multi-disciplinary research combining expertise from various fields. Expected outcomes of this project ....Context-aware verification and validation framework for autonomous driving. This project aims to enhance the reliability and safety of emerging self-driving vehicles, through a framework that supports the validation and verification of autonomous driving systems. This project expects to generate new knowledge in areas of software engineering, intelligent transport, and machine learning, using a multi-disciplinary research combining expertise from various fields. Expected outcomes of this project are a family of new context-aware techniques to verify and validate complex behaviours in autonomous driving. This should provide significant benefits, such as safe autonomous driving systems and the improved journey experience and security for road users.Read moreRead less
An innovative theory driven approach to enhancing situation awareness among road users in Australia. This project will develop, via on-road studies exploring road user behaviour, a first of its kind systems theoretic model of situation awareness (SA) for road transport. The model will then be used to inform the development of roadway design solutions to enhance road user SA, which will be tested through advanced simulation.
Sustainable mobility: city-wide exposure modelling to advance bicycling. This project aims to develop a world-leading platform for city-wide modelling of cycling exposure. This project will provide unparalleled insights into cycling exposure by combining multiple cycling data sources through the use of advanced spatial statistical and machine learning techniques. The expected outcomes of this project are a novel inventory of cycling infrastructure, a cycling route choice modelling system and rob ....Sustainable mobility: city-wide exposure modelling to advance bicycling. This project aims to develop a world-leading platform for city-wide modelling of cycling exposure. This project will provide unparalleled insights into cycling exposure by combining multiple cycling data sources through the use of advanced spatial statistical and machine learning techniques. The expected outcomes of this project are a novel inventory of cycling infrastructure, a cycling route choice modelling system and robust predictions of cycling volumes on individual streets. This project will deliver a step change in cycling that will lead to increased cycling participation, enhanced safety, and improved infrastructure planning, thereby resulting in substantial gains in population and environmental health.Read moreRead less
Driving Towards Greener and Safer Roads using Big Spatiotemporal Data. This project aims to design novel techniques for using big spatiotemporal data to reduce the impact of road transport on the environment and improve road safety. This project expects to address key challenges and lay scientific foundations of using the big data for developing a next-generation eco-friendly navigation system and increasing situational awareness for road transport safety. Expected outcomes of this project inclu ....Driving Towards Greener and Safer Roads using Big Spatiotemporal Data. This project aims to design novel techniques for using big spatiotemporal data to reduce the impact of road transport on the environment and improve road safety. This project expects to address key challenges and lay scientific foundations of using the big data for developing a next-generation eco-friendly navigation system and increasing situational awareness for road transport safety. Expected outcomes of this project include novel big data management and analytics techniques, and new edge computing models for vehicular networks. The success of this project should bring several key benefits including reducing greenhouse gas emissions on roads, facilitating urban planning, and improving road safety.Read moreRead less
Motorcycle protective clothing, crash protection, thermal strain and rider performance. Using a mix of novel studies this project will for the first time provide: basic knowledge of the required performance of protective clothing to prevent injury; the best ways to assess performance; and, resolution around potential negative effects of thermal strain on rider performance. This is is the first study to examine motorcycle protective clothing from a whole-system perspective. In Australia, motorcyc ....Motorcycle protective clothing, crash protection, thermal strain and rider performance. Using a mix of novel studies this project will for the first time provide: basic knowledge of the required performance of protective clothing to prevent injury; the best ways to assess performance; and, resolution around potential negative effects of thermal strain on rider performance. This is is the first study to examine motorcycle protective clothing from a whole-system perspective. In Australia, motorcyclists are over-represented in casualty rates and currently cost the Australian community more than two billion Australian dollars per year. This work will provide knowledge on which public policy and performance assessment protocols can be developed, and ultimately will lead to reduced societal costs from motorcycle crashes.Read moreRead less
Cognitive Radars for Automobiles. Automobile radar systems are an important technology for improving road safety by providing advanced driver warnings in vehicles. Though such devices currently exist in practice there is no guarantee that they will operate successfully when deployed on a mass scale in every vehicle given the limited allocated frequency spectrum. The spectral interference due to radar access becomes a major issue when several radars operate in a confined bandwidth simultaneously, ....Cognitive Radars for Automobiles. Automobile radar systems are an important technology for improving road safety by providing advanced driver warnings in vehicles. Though such devices currently exist in practice there is no guarantee that they will operate successfully when deployed on a mass scale in every vehicle given the limited allocated frequency spectrum. The spectral interference due to radar access becomes a major issue when several radars operate in a confined bandwidth simultaneously, potentially leading to a complete system failure during mass deployment. This project will conduct fundamental research intended to enable dynamic spectrum accessing in automobile radars and redesign the radar systems in the form of sequence and waveform designs to suit requirements.Read moreRead less
Characterisation and Prevention of Vibration-Induced Drowsiness in Drivers. The present CIs have demonstrated that vibrational frequencies of 4-7 Hz entrain brainwaves associated with the onset of sleep. Our unpublished pilot data show that higher vibrational frequencies can restore alertness. Thus future vehicle design could dampen 3-8Hz vibrations while higher frequency vibrations could counteract drowsiness or stimulate alertness. This project aims to: i) develop novel equivalent drowsiness c ....Characterisation and Prevention of Vibration-Induced Drowsiness in Drivers. The present CIs have demonstrated that vibrational frequencies of 4-7 Hz entrain brainwaves associated with the onset of sleep. Our unpublished pilot data show that higher vibrational frequencies can restore alertness. Thus future vehicle design could dampen 3-8Hz vibrations while higher frequency vibrations could counteract drowsiness or stimulate alertness. This project aims to: i) develop novel equivalent drowsiness contours for the effects of physical vibration on driver drowsiness that will form the basis of a new industry standard for transportation safety; ii) develop an innovative vibration regime to improve alertness. This research will reduce transportation injuries and deaths by enabling the design of safer transport vehicles.Read moreRead less
An innovative mechanism for optimising freeway traffic efficiency, safety, and sustainability via variable speed limit control. Congestion, safety, and emissions are three major traffic problems threatening the Australian economy. This project aims to develop a novel approach to collectively handle these problems for freeway traffic using variable speed limits (VSL). The project tasks address modelling, VSL controller design and automatic fine tuning of VSL controllers.