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Telematics Industry Group (TIG) primed for major safety and productivity initiatives led by government

18 April 2016

Transport Certification Australia (TCA) today reported on the latest Telematics Industry Group (TIG) meeting held in Melbourne on 15 April 2016.

The TIG provides a forum where TCA can interact with the telematics sector on government- led initiatives to improve the safety and productivity of transport, through the use of telematics.

TCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Koniditsiotis, said “last week’s TIG meeting attracted 30 different organisations from the telematics industry, making this the largest TIG meeting we’ve hosted to date.”

“A key item which drove interest at last week’s TIG meeting was the Electronic Work Diary (EWD) – an electronic system which will record the work and rest times of heavy vehicle drivers. The EWD is recognised as a major road transport safety initiative, which – through the use of telematics – offers an alternative to paper written work diaries.”

“TCA and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) confirmed that joint work is now underway to implement government-related activities for the EWD, with the aim of opening the door for applicants seeking certification to become an EWD Service Provider during 2017.”

“In addition to the EWD, the breadth of topics discussed at the TIG meeting reflected the growing use of telematics (and related intelligent technologies) across government policy areas to enable public purpose outcomes to be realised,” said Mr Koniditsiotis. The other topics included:

  • An overview of the core functional and technical requirements for In-Vehicle Units (IVUs) to provide assurance (and to support regulatory telematics applications)
  • Operational learnings from the use of On-Board Mass (OBM) systems linked to the IAP, and next steps to finalise a type-approval specification
  • An expansion of the Traveller Information Service pilot (to be progressed initially with Main Roads WA and the Port of Fremantle during 2016).

TCA also thanked the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) for taking the time to deliver a presentation on the development of a privacy code of practice for non-regulatory use of telematics in the road freight transport industry.

“The success of TIG meetings is the interactive nature between TIG members and TCA, which enables a critical exchange of information and knowledge to advance the use of telematics and related intelligent technologies in Australia,” said Mr Koniditsiotis.

“A key aspect of the National Telematics Framework is that competition and choice are made available to end users through the marketplace of telematics service providers.

Interaction with TIG members is critical, therefore, to ensure that the telematics sector is kept abreast of policy and operational developments being led by government.”

“With this mind, I’m pleased to announce that further TIG meetings throughout 2016 will be organised to progress critical implementation projects such as the EWD.”

Interested stakeholders can become a member of the TIG by registering at the Telematics Industry Group page.