Innovations in software integration, wearable technology and driver fatigue monitoring were on display Wednesday in Williamstown at WHG’s annual TechDRIVE event.
What has fast become an essential date on the calendar for anyone interested in the latest developments for in-cab commercial vehicle technology, the third showcase of WHG’s product portfolio incorporated key presentations from its partners, regulators, and government and industry bodies including the TCA, Victorian Transport Association, Transurban and others.
Dylan Hartley, WHG Director of Operations, opened proceedings by pointing to how partnerships and integrated systems were informing the vision behind WHG.
“More than ever we’re seeing the success of connected systems and the importance of collaboration,” he said.
“We understand the challenges of change and we’ve seen the positive impact technology brings into our marketplace and a lot of that is being driven by regulatory telematics and what’s exciting about that is it’s building us a foundation for technology innovation and we’re so pleased to be a part of that.
“Telematics technology shouldn’t be a box ticking exercise. We should be expecting more from our providers. We see the consolidation in the marketplace and the change of providers as an exciting opportunity. It’s all part of the change that is driving competition and it also highlights the importance of local providers.”
Gavin Hill from the TCA talked about the improved productivity and safety arrangements by road agencies and the regulatory bodies through certified telematics.
“Those permissions, those conditions, those productivity incentives are made available because they trust the technology,” he said.
Transport agencies within governments were now being able to compete better with other portfolios for funding through telematics to assess and manage infrastructure assets.
AI was the acronym most in vogue in the presentations having seemingly supplanted IOT as the concept most readily redefining telematics technology.
It dominated proceedings acknowledged widely as an integral part of video monitoring and data capture with fleet managers looking to simplify analytics to the extent making decisions would be increasingly reliant on a notion described as a “single source of truth.”
Several deep dives on products included AI’s increasing role in permit management, next-gen video telematics, TMS applications and 24/7 monitoring.
Shifts to intelligence AI processing and high definition video were also recognised as key areas anticipated to lower human effort.
ASIAL accredited member Bandit Security, part of WHG Group, was represented by Cameron Davidson who shared some alarming statistics in the rise of vehicle thefts in Victoria where a vehicle is stolen every 25 minutes.
This year alone his company had recovered 267 vehicles for customers.
With freight volumes expected to double in the coming decades the amount of trucks required to transport said volumes are unlikely to double with it.
That puts the onus on smarter systems for managing service standards and increasing demand but with an important caveat, according to VTA CEO Peter Anderson, who stressed the need for stronger safeguards to ensure all transport workers received fair pay, entitlements, and safe working conditions.
“We must not allow technology to become a tool for exploitation,” he said.
“Everyone in our industry deserves fair treatment and a future they can build on.”
WHG will reportedly have some 3000 devices in the Australian market by December.
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