This October 10-14, thousands of transportation leaders from around the world will descend on Melbourne, Australia for one of the most exciting and prestigious gatherings of the year, the 23rd World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems.
Among those leaders will be Dr. Peter Sweatman, co-founder of ITS consulting firm CAVita LLC, founding director of the Michigan Mobility Transformation Centre and one of the icons ITS of the industry. It will be a homecoming of sorts. Though he’s one of the world’s best known intelligent transportation experts, Dr. Sweatman grew up Melbourne. He took his first steps in the industry after graduation with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne and worked in freight accident investigation when ITS was in its infancy. “Just the thought of having so many great colleagues from the United States and from Europe for that matter, in my hometown is going to be a big thrill. It’s going to be a great event,” he says.
Dr. Sweatman believes that whether from Europe, the United States or Asia Pacific, even the most knowledgeable connected and autonomous vehicle experts will find value in Melbourne. “There’s a limit to how many deployments and demonstrations…we’re doing in the Unites States, but if you also consider what’s happening around the rest of the world, then we start to get a much truer picture as to how this is all going to work.”
In fact, the move toward globalization will inevitably be a hall mark of the event. “We tend to be rolling things out, very fast and very rapidly and then learning from those experiences, and those experiences are being presented every twelve months at the World Congress so I think that part of the excitement is to come along and see what the three regions (the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific) are actually doing,” he says.
This year’s World Congress will not disappoint with some 300 organizations and businesses in the World Congress Exhibition centre, including Australian, Asia Pacific and global brands specializing in IoT, autonomous and connected vehicles and transport technology infrastructure.
With more than 900 Plenary, Executive, Special Interest and Technical sessions at the award winning Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, technical tours and live demonstrations, the World Congress will give attendees and exhibitors the opportunity to meet up with governments, academics, entrepreneurs and innovators in the recently voted World’s most liveable city.
As both an attendee and presenter at the World Congress, Dr. Sweatman is bullish on the role this year’s event will play in the increasingly complex world of ITS. “The World Congress is incredibly successful,” he says, “not only in that role of keeping up with what’s going on around the world, but actually accelerating the process around the world.”
Register now for the 2016 ITS World Congress in Melbourne. Standard registrations end 5 September. For details, and special delegate flight discounts with Emirates, visit www.itsworldcongress2016.com
