ZOE1 completed just over 1,200 kilometres in this endeavour, across three months in 2019.

‘The QUT study, in partnership with the Department of Transport and Main Roads, was the first step in understanding infrastructure requirements of our vast and varied road network for new vehicle technologies’, said Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey.

‘As researchers drove the car across South-East Queensland, onboard sensors collected some 20 terabytes of raw data which was used to train and refine AI algorithms.

Artificial Intelligence technology and smart road infrastructure have potential to transform the way we travel in Queensland and reduce road trauma.’

What was the project looking to do?

The project was led by Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, with research conducted by the Queensland University of Technology.

The project looked to answer the following four questions:

How well can state‐of‐the‐art computer vision and deep learning algorithms retrospectively account for correct human‐level driving behaviour and decisions with respect to recognising and obeying road signage and road surface markings, and how and in what situations do they fail to do so? How will existing built and signed infrastructure affect the accurate (automation enabling to a few centimetres precision) positioning capability of an automated vehicle? What types of infrastructure improvements could address shortcomings identified in this study? How will the answer to the above three questions change depending on the technology solution deployed on the automated vehicle, with a primary focus on the spectrum of possible range‐based (laser, radar) solutions versus primary vision‐based (MobilEye® for example) solutions?

‘The primary goal of the study was to consider how current advances in robotic vision and machine learning – the backbone of AI – could enable the research car platform to see and make sense of everyday road signage and markings that we, as humans, take for granted,’ said the research project leader, Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Michael Milford, deputy director of QUT’s Centre for Robotics.