As the intensity of climate change grows and the frequency of natural disasters increase, governments, OEMs, road authorities and agencies need to consider how vehicle data can be harnessed to improve incident response and driver safety – especially during large-scale events like bushfires and floods.
According to Deloitte, approximately 470 million connected vehicles will be on highways around the world by 2025. Those connected vehicles will each produce roughly 25 gigabytes of data per hour. In Australia we anticipate 1 million connected vehicles on the road by 2025. This provides a significant opportunity to improve disaster response.
The current climate
Australia is preparing for a warmer and drier summery after three consecutive years of La Niña. This comes off the back of two large-scale crises in Australia. During the 2019/20 Bushfire crisis, 33 lives were lost and over 3500 homes destroyed. In the 2022 flood crisis across Qld and NSW, a further 20 lives were lost.
Australian agencies and authorities are using a multitude of technologies to plan for, and manage, these incidents. Examples include ABC AM broadcasts and SMS. But there are limits to how well these channels can target impacted people with locational context and in a timely fashion.
Bushfires and floods are highly dynamic and road users are also inevitably on the move. Many regional and rural roads were closed during the 2019/20 bushfires. With residents evacuating, there was confusion about how to navigate road closures often in low visibility environments.
These events crossed state and territory borders and hence state government and emergency service jurisdictions. This complex mix of factors requires fresh approaches to alerts, broadcasting and cross-jurisdictional collaboration.
Untapped capabilities
Connected vehicles in Australia are equipped with advanced predictive analytics capabilities and the ability to accept alerts, messages, calls and re-routing instructions, but they remain largely underutilised. These systems can communicate in real-time suggesting optimal routes, helping drivers avoid danger zones and reach safer locations more efficiently. Data can also be shared with emergency response teams and local authorities.
Connected vehicle technology has been proven in Australia and overseas as an effective tool to cater for road user safety during natural disasters. A notable instance occurred during Hurricane Harvey in Texas, where General Motors utilised vehicles equipped with OnStar services. OnStar customers were able to contact call centre staff from their vehicle’s SOS button to receive dynamic storm information, road closures and re-routing instructions. This reduced load on 911 and improved road safety.
In Australia, Intelematics used its ability to capture structured and unstructured incident and road closure data during the Australian 2019-2020 bushfire crisis and the NSW and Victorian flood events in 2022. Over 1300 individual messages across Victoria, NSW, WA and SA were received at the peak of the 2019/2020 bushfire crisis and 230 messages were received during the flood events. This data helped inform road users in real-time to prevent the routing of traffic towards fire-impacted areas.
As the fire events were moving quickly, Intelematics’ combination of automated incident entry backed by machine learning and expert operators produced up-to-date coverage across the entire event – consistently across jurisdictions. Messages were captured in real-time from multiple sources and published into our Incident API service and made available to drivers and impacted road users.
Australia’s opportunity
To deliver the most benefit, connected vehicle data needs to be dynamic, two-way and accessible to multiple parties. In Australia, this data is held by OEMs and shared with agencies and authorities on a case-by-case basis. Similarly, incident and road data is held by each state and not shared nationally by default.
On the whole, alerts to drivers during large-scale events are delivered by the ABC and traditional media – not via API feeds directly into a car’s navigation system or via voice calls made to or from a vehicle. These more direct routes of communication are technically possible and allow location targeting as well as more detail and context to be relayed to drivers.
Intelematics is actively working with international parties who have delivered trials that cater for these alternate channels in Europe. TISA (Traveller Information Services Association) is providing new technology to furnish travellers with public emergency warnings in multiple languages.
A consortium including GEWI and TomTom completed a trial in Germany in 2021. The trial used TPEG emergency alerts issued by public authorities and their agencies with the TPEG protocol – also compatible with in-vehicle navigation systems.
TPEG can be mapped to OLR, GLR and RDS-TMC and complies with (and can be fed by) the CAP protocol which is used by BOM and Emergency Services in Australia. TISA is also working with EUSPA in Europe on Satellite based warnings outside 4G mobile coverage. This has particular relevance in Australia given that satellite currently reaches many locations beyond the reach of AM/FM frequency and 4G/ 5G.
TISA is now keen to take these trials globally including to Australia with the assistance of Intelematics and our ability to offer in-vehicle alerts and capture structured and unstructured emergency services and natural disaster related data.
To help Australia’s agencies and authorities deliver the most dynamic and efficient response to large-scale events like bushfires, these new types of technology which facilitate broader and more efficient sharing of dynamic event, emergency services alerts and connected vehicle data are required.
The Intelematics approach
Intelematics has designed an Incident API, which is available to Apple customers. Using AI and machine learning, it processes data collected from sources including road authorities and social media channels. This paints a vivid picture of road conditions, which can be delivered directly into the API feed of a vehicle, allowing for timely and informed decisions by authorities and drivers.
Where it excels is in its capacity for precise data analysis. It also comprehends patterns, detects anomalies, and predicts incident probabilities. Through careful analysis of over 200,000 incidents, its algorithm has evolved to recognise traffic patterns and trends.
The data collected is initially verified and vetted by human authority. By delivering vetted data, the service empowers agencies to take immediate and appropriate action, ensuring the safety of drivers and the general public.
Collaboration driving safety
As the frequency of large-scale events like bushfires continues to rise, harnessing the power of connected vehicle services is crucial for ensuring driver safety and efficient crisis management. The key to maximising their adoption and success will be through the formation of new, national partnerships – which bring OEMs, road authorities, data aggregators and agencies together – increasing the flow and quality of critical data nationally.
At Intelematics our focus is on providing the most accurate data and real-time insights to progress traffic management and driver safety in Australia. Our Incident API, in-vehicle emergency Call and SOS services, build on the success of market leading connected vehicles platforms including ASURE and SUNA. We believe that by leveraging the capabilities of connected vehicles and collaborating across agencies and authorities, we can ultimately help save more lives.
For more information, visit: www.intelematics.com. or get in touch at [email protected]
Rob is an MBA-qualified executive leader of high-performance teams with consulting experience and tenures across the logistics, telco, energy renewables and location & navigation market sectors.
He currently leads the product and design team at Intelematics and is responsible for the strategic development of connected vehicle and mobility solutions for the Australian market and global AI-based data services.
He has extensive experience in building new products from inception, integrating newly acquired businesses, commercialising large marketplaces for high profile Australian brands and negotiating deals with global suppliers. He feels comfortable working in complex digital and iOT-based environments dealing with rapid change.
