Just over a week ago in Melbourne a truck carrying an excavator hit a bridge, causing traffic mayhem and extensive damage, before, astonishingly, the same truck hit another overpass less than an hour later.
The event, carried on all prime time news stations, followed a similar incident in Lithgow that tragically cost a rail worker their life.
These events all wrought ensuing changes to traffic conditions.
Just as these road changes can present drivers and fleets with challenges in organising transport routes, innovations in industry technology are making both regulation and road navigation more achievable.
Embedded SIM cards connecting with OEM offices and big screen displays in cabins are two major trends in current trucking designs partially responsible for this.
Technology platforms, in turn, can better integrate with fleets and provide dynamic route optimisation solutions.
HERE Technologies, for example, is a global mapping and technology company which has provided map planning and route optimisation services for both passengers and commercial vehicles in Australia over the last 20 years.
As the state of Australia’s road network changes, along with relevant industry technology, so too will the application of these tools.
“In Australia, our transport environment is heavily regulated and ever-changing,” HERE Technologies General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Daniel Antonello, told Prime Mover.
“Our road mapping abilities need to reflect the various road requirements that operators and drivers face, so that we can plan the most efficient route for them.
“We have a 24-hour monitoring system of every road to factor in changing conditions like traffic congestion, planned and unplanned road closures, bridge heights and weights, and specific vehicle access. All of this information is imperative when deciding which route a driver should take.”
The application utilises the large screens of modern truck designs to display these routes and live updates to the driver without distracting them from the road.
“The real estate of those truck cabin screens allows drivers to run our applications in a format that is neatly packaged, displaying only important information,” Antonello said. “This way, they can focus wholly on the road.”
In addition to these capabilities, HERE Technologies’ route optimisation services seem well-positioned to support the transport industry as it navigates future legislation —specifically, the transition from fuel excise to a road-user charge model.
“We see about $18 billion in tax collected through fuel excise, but as vehicles and fleets become more electrified and fuel efficient, this will decrease,” Antonello said.
“And, a road-user charge model will be necessary. There’s a lot of discussion around the implications of this model, and what that will mean for road use and congestion.”
In the 2023-24 financial year, there were 369 rail bridge or protection beam strikes, up from 360 the year before.
Bridge strikes in Queensland were the estimated cause for around 200 hours of delays for road users annually, according to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.
“Our systems will assist drivers through this transition, and update them on how their routes stand to be affected,” Antonello said.
“Australia’s transport industry has seen tech, infrastructure and legislation changes over the last 20 years, and this will continue into the future. HERE Technologies was there then, and is here now to continue guiding the industry through this transition.”
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