We're excited to introduce Evan Walker, Director of Future Mobility at Transport for NSW, as a new addition to the CCAT Board. With over 20 years of experience in the transport sector, Evan leads ground-breaking initiatives exploring new mobility technology. His leadership drives positive outcomes for transport passengers, services, and road users, fostering safety, sustainability, and access. Learn more about Evan's insights and contributions to the future of transport in our interview below!
- What got you started in the transport industry?
It wasn’t planned. I was looking for a role where I could use my psychology degree outside of a clinical setting and a job working on the behavioural side of road safety came up. I ended up working in that field for 15 years and in some ways I still do, though with more of a focus on technology advancements leading to safer vehicles, which under the Safe Systems approach could still be considered as a way of reducing the impact of behavioural factors in road crashes!
- What excites you most about the future of connected and automated transport?
It’s the breadth of the benefits that excites me. From safety to productivity and the fact that there’s both near term gains from automated features in vehicles people can buy today right through to the potential of fully automated transport improving both safety and also supporting those industries where it’s getting harder to find drivers to keep up with growing demand, and the benefits to our local industry of being involved in the development of the technology and how it will be used. I also think the prospect of people who can’t drive now having access to more personalised transport in the future will provide enormous social benefits.
- In your opinion, what are the primary issues Australia and New Zealand must address in their preparations for connected and automated transport in the coming years?
I think the primary issues are clearly measuring the benefits and explaining the use cases that will provide a benefit and mapping these to realistic technology timeframes so we can factor the right options into future business cases and infrastructure development at the right time. Safety is also critical and ensuring that we’re not assuming what will work for the community.
- What major trends and applications do you foresee in the near future for connected and automated transport?
In the immediate future automation in the heavy vehicle sector is an area that we are looking into, right from ADAS features in the short term to higher levels of automation in the medium term.
- What accomplishment in your career are you most proud of within the future transport space?
Establishing the Future Mobility team in NSW that has led automated vehicle trials, safety assurance and the research and commercial testing of automated features in vehicles at our Future Mobility Testing and Research Centre at Cudal in regional NSW.