In 2019, the NSW government unveiled a world-first program to crackdown on illegal mobile phone use by drivers.
In 2021, the Queensland government kicked off a first-of-its-kind seatbelt compliance enforcement technology scheme.
Soon after, the Western Australian government announced a new platform aiming to enforce speeding, distraction and seatbelt rules for drivers, and a new scheme to crackdown on drivers in bus lanes began in Sydney.
The landmark programs all had one thing in common: they were powered by Melbourne-based tech firm Acusensus.
The startup has created an artificial intelligence-powered multi-function enforcement solution aiming to address the “fatal five” most common causes of road deaths: speeding, impaired driving, failure to wear a seatbelt, driver fatigue and driver distraction.
These lead to the deaths of 1.19 million people each year around the world.
Acusensus’ platform can capture high-resolution, prosecutable evidence of illegal driving behaviour 24 hours a day, seven days a week in all weather conditions. This can be done no matter the level of sunlight and glare, with extremely high clarity and without blur up to speeds of 300km/hr.
The platform can now detect three of the “fatal five”, including speeding, drivers not wearing a seatbelt and drivers being distracted behind the wheel.
The technology is currently in use across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, and the company has offices in the United Kingdom and United States.
Acusensus is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence in the Software Innovation category. The InnovationAus Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at The Venue Alexandria in Sydney on Wednesday October 30. You can book your tickets here.
The Software Innovation category is sponsored by TechnologyOne.
The Acusensus platform was rolled out as part of a program in Western Australia aimed at data collection, and now has 224 deployments across 170 sites in the state.
In 2019, it was rolled out in NSW to identify the illegal use of mobile phones by drivers. Across the following three years there was a sixfold reduction in the rate of camera-detected mobile phone offences in the state.
After just six months of the program being in place, the rate of mobile phone offences in NSW fell steadily to 0.3 percent, compared with 1.2 percent earlier.
The initial trial of this service in NSW, running from January to April 2019, led to the detection of 100,000 drivers using their phones while driving, among 8.5 million vehicles that were checked by the platform.
The program was made permanent in NSW later that year.
Early last year Acusensus completed a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ACE ticker.
Looking for brand exposure in front of Australia’s tech ecosystem? Purchase a table of 10 for the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.
The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence are supported by: Australian Computer Society, Investment NSW, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Technology Council of Australia, TechnologyOne, National Artificial Intelligence Centre, CSIRO’s ON Innovation Program, Reason Group, Q-CTRL, University of New South Wales, South by South West Sydney and IP Australia.
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