Q-Free expands its deployment of C-ITS equipment in Australia

Norwegian tolling and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) supplier Q-Free is now engaged in its third Australian Cooperative ITS (C-ITS) project, this time with Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR).

Q-Free’s involvement in Queensland follows successful deliveries of the company’s Universal ITS Stations to roads authorities in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. Over the next 3.5 years, TMR will undertake a trial as part of its Connected and Automated Vehicles Initiative (CAVI). Around 500 motorists will have their vehicles retrofitted with C-ITS technology. The devices work by providing safety warnings to drivers about a range of conditions, such as: pedestrians crossing at a signalized intersection, red light runners; or traffic queues that are not visible to approaching drivers.

Queensland’s C-ITS trial will take place in the town of Ipswich, just outside the state capital of Brisbane. Q-Free is participating in the first phase of the trial, providing Subject Matter Expert input at both the design and deployment stages, as well as testing of the resultant design. The company will also supply and maintain ITS stations for TMR’s evaluation. Q-Free Australia’s senior solution architect, Lance Brand, and principal solutions engineer Chris Myatt, have commenced work on this project, alongside Knut Evensen and Ola Martin Lykkja from Q-Free’s Future ITS Solutions group.

“Our involvement in the first phase of CAVI is an important step toward participating in a wider deployment potentially involving hundreds of our Universal ITS Stations,” explained Brand. “It reflects TMR’s confidence in our products and capabilities. That confidence is based on our successful participation in a number of European Union C-ITS trials and, more recently, our demonstration at the 2016 ITS World Congress in Melbourne.”

Q-Free has also announced that its Intrada automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology is now certified to work with software from the USA company Convergence to Pixels (C2P), a leader in the provision of connectivity of IP-standard devices to Video Management Systems (VMS).

C2P’s text-to-video conversion and search engine are optimized to provide a common, seamless interface for all attached IP-standard appliances, with its applications within the ITS sector including ALPR and access control.

Marco Sinnema, Q-Free’s product manager for Intrada, commented, “The announcement opens the way to integration with any regular VMS platform. Whereas most other ALPR partners of C2P look to integrate their own cameras, Intrada Live provides live integration with any type of IP camera.”