Transport Certification Australia (TCA), a government body administering Australia’s Intelligent Access Program (IAP), this week announced plans to establish an Australian telematics industry group, to liaise between the TCA and Australia’s telematics industry.
Auckland-based International Telematics Ltd’s executive vice president – Asia Pacific, Dean Marris, says that International Telematics would be prepared to be a part of a similar New Zealand industry forum, to represent industry interests at a more strategic level and act as liaison between government and New Zealand’s telematics industry on current and emerging issues of interest.
New Zealand is widely regarded as being a world leader in transport technology, exporting the technology to major developed markets. A key role of such an industry group would be to set regulatory standards for telematics across fleet management.
Says Marris: “Adoption of telematics in NZ has risen dramatically over the last year. An industry body would streamline things around putting a broader, more strategic industry case to regulators and major stakeholders, such as fleet operators.”
Operating in the United States and Australia, Marris believes International Telematics is well placed to contribute, and will always take a global view around key issues.
TCA was established by Australian state governments to help meet challenges facing Australian transport.
“With policy makers turning to telematics solutions to improve safety and efficiency, the telematics industry group will lead in advancing positive outcomes through the intersection of policy and technology,” says TCA chief executive officer Chris Koniditsiotis.
TCA’s IAP programme provides heavy vehicles with enhanced access to road transporters, permitting additional load and road access, in return for telemetric compliance monitoring and specific access conditions.
Improved access can mean traveling on routes they would not otherwise be allowed to access, operating longer vehicles or working different hours, as a result of data exchange with roading authority jurisdictions.
