The CCAT delegation had the opportunity to meet with influential international decision-makers from the business and government sectors who are shaping Europe's preparations for automated and connected transportation. During their meetings, they gained valuable insights into the well-established ecosystems in the UK, Sweden, and Germany, which have been developed over many years to build the necessary infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, and research and testing facilities that facilitate the advancement of technology.

CCAT will be hosting a webinar on the 15th of September 2023 at 11:00am AEST to discuss their findings, please join us by registering via this link: CCAT Webinar 

ABOUT THE STUDY TOUR 

After touching down in London, the delegation immediately got to work with a site tour and autonomous train briefing with LutonDART. Travellers can take the Direct Air-Rail Transit (LutonDART) in less than 4 minutes to get from the Luton Airport Parkway station to the terminal of London Luton Airport. The next session briefing in London was Arup, where a policy conversation between the government and business was held about automated public transportation, automated freight and logistics, and the long-term strategic course for CAV deployment in the UK and Australia.

The CCAT international outreach mission visited TRL and the Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL) on Day 2 in London. A number of excellent briefings on the SMLL, the HelmUK truck platooning trial, and the architecture for linked automated plant were given by industry and government specialists. The SMLL control room, their networked infrastructure, and an automated electric charging demonstration were all made available to CCAT participants. Following were in-depth conversations on digital use cases and Australia's and the UK's strategic orientation. After that, attendees developed new connections with representatives from the broad ITS ecosystem during a networking event co-hosted by ITS UK.

Stockholm was the next stop on the international outreach program where the delegation spent two days immersed in technology demonstrations and discussion. At Ericsson's magnificent Imagination Studio, we first explored the transport and digital environment and had a close-up look at their most recent technological advancements. Additionally, AstaZero and Drive Sweden, who are advancing Sweden's CAV agenda, provided us with some amazing perspectives. Next, a discussion with Einride and Q-Free followed, who showed off the potential of automation in fresh freight business ideas. On Day 2, the team visited Scania, where they got the opportunity to take the wheel (literally), observe the company's newest autonomous mining trucks in use, and learn about their autonomous journey. Finally, Transportforetagen demonstrated how straightforward innovations might begin to tackle the issues posed by the decarbonization agenda in the transportation sector.

CCAT had a busy few days when they arrived in Berlin. The German Automotive Industry Association (VDA) presented their market insights and decarbonisation strategy first. CCAT also heard directly from members Iveco and Daimler about their CAV strategies. The next stop was Autobahn, who presented their journey as a newly established federal highway agency and their work plan to integrate C-ITS technology into the network and put the new German autonomous vehicle regulation into effect.

On the delegation’s second day in Berlin, CCAT went to Lower Saxony testbed to see a demonstration of automated and connected mobility technology run by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), where the CCAT delegation were able to observe how their world-class research is assisting them in understanding how these technologies may be incorporated into transportation systems. Advanced transport technology adoption will be made easier by the data-rich environment being created by real-world testing and simulations on a variety of routes and road user kinds.

Attending the Power2Drive Expo was CCAT. As this expo is concentrated on connect, automated, e-mobility, and charging infrastructure technology and legislation, it has earned the tagline "charging the future of mobility."  

While attending the Expo, CCAT had the opportunity to interact with many industry professionals who are important players in the future of transportation, including manufacturers, suppliers, installers, distributors, fleet and energy managers, operators of charging stations, E-mobility service providers, and start-ups, and observe connected and automated transportation.

This exhibition was a fantastic chance to learn about what other nations and businesses are doing in the connected and automated transportation arena so that we can bring these cutting-edge systems and infrastructures back to Australia.

The last day of the international outreach, the CCAT delegation had a session briefing with IKS Fraunhofer-Institut Für Kognitive Systeme, then in the afternoon the CCAT delegation had a meeting at BMW and ended the day with a tour around the BMW museum.

The CCAT Delegation, which was made up of executives from all different industries such as communications, logistics, Government, now have a better understanding of what Australia needs to implement so that we are prepared for this connected and automated technology.