2022 NRMA Future of Transport Challenge – Winners
Stage 4 Winners
Congratulations to Davidson High School in Frenchs Forest on winning the Stage 4 2022 NRMA Future of Transport Challenge with their project ‘DOVS’. DOVS is a system that is installed in vehicles so that they can automatically send a report to 000 emergency services if the vehicle is involved in a severe crash. Installing DOVS will create a faster response time when vehicle incidents occur, leading to fewer deaths and injuries involving vehicles.
Jade from Davidson High School
Stage 5 Winners
Congratulations to Canley Vale High School on winning the Stage 5 2022 NRMA Future of Transport Challenge with their project ‘BookSafe’. BookSafe is a booking system of special train carriages where people use an app and their Opal card to book a train seat in these safe carriages. This means train commuters are able to take safe travelling into their own hands by choosing their own seats; reassuring commuters about their safety and assisting them to avoid crowded train carriages during peak times.
Talia, Megan, Judy and Chanraisarh from Canley Vale High School
These six finalists pitched their innovative solutions to real-world transport problems to a panel of industry experts at the 2 final events for 2022. The judges were NRMA Motoring & Membership CEO - Emma Harrington, NRMA EGM of Infrastructure and Energy – Carly Irving Dolan, NRMA Motoring & Membership GM for Customer Contact - Carolyn Darke, and STEM Advisor for the Department of Education & Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle - Dr Scott Sleap.
The Future of Transport Competition finals are presented as part of the Youth Eco Summit (YES) for secondary schools and this year was held as two live, virtual events. You can watch the finals event here:
2021 NRMA Future of Transport Challenge – Winners
Congratulations to St Matthews Catholic School in Mudgee on winning the 2021 NRMA Future of Transport Challenge with ‘SMSC Technologies’ as part of YES Live hosted by Sydney Olympic Park Authority. SMSC Technologies’ proposal aimed at educating their local area and surrounding regions on Electric Vehicle technologies, including installation of new chargers to encourage EV uptake and reskilling workers to install and service chargers and batteries, bringing on new skill sets and future industry.
(Brooke, Harry and David from St Matthews Catholic School, Mudgee)
All finalists are to be congratulated on their fantastic final projects;
Loreto Kirribilli with ‘RoadGoGrip’; an innovative four layered road surface installation designed to successfully grip tyres to the road in all-weather situations to increase road safety in accident prone black spots around NSW.
Canley Vale High School with ‘UVRA’; a UV sanitation system fitted onto Sydney trains to sterilize poles on a timer and seats during train non-operational times, to enhance customer confidence in using public transport while living with Covid.
North Sydney Boys High School with ‘Turboluxe’; AI-piloted pods seating 4 people and expanding to fit 6, using EVTOL propulsion for vertical take-off and the ability to hover in mid-air. These re-chargeable pods fly at 280km/hr, delivering a faster and more sustainable solution to public transport.
(Isabelle, Emily and Romy from Loreto Kirribilli)
(Dan, Ameera and Justin (not pictured) from Canley Vale High School)
(Anthony, Eric, Fred and Naman from North Sydney Boys High School)
These four finalists pitched their innovative solutions to real-world transport problems to a panel of industry experts at this year’s finals event. The judges were NRMA Motoring & Membership CEO - Emma Harrington, Chief Executive of Placemaking NSW – Anita Mitchell and STEM Advisor for the Department of Education & Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle - Dr Scott Sleap.
The Future of Transport Competition finals are presented as part of the Youth Eco Summit (YES) for secondary schools, Sydney Olympic Park. You can watch the finals event here:
2020 NRMA Future of Transport Challenge – Winners
Students from Year 10 at Bethlehem College, Ashfield won the NRMA Future of Transport Challenge 2020 with the Transport 2 U App, a user-friendly app designed for people with disabilities to allow for convenient, real-time booking of accessible transport services on the Leppington line.
The winning team were selected by judges Nell Payne, Chief of Operating Investments at the NRMA, Dan Maranhao General Manager of Operations at the NRMA and Anthony Pantilas, Operations Analyst at Scentre Group who are the owners and operators of Westfield in Australia and New Zealand. While all four finalists impressed the judges with their new ways of thinking about transport, Bethlehem College stood out for the extensibility of their app and the ability to launch it to a large number of people very quickly, using existing transport.
As part of their prize, the winning team had the opportunity to present their pitch to Stephanie Salter, Director of the Digital Transport Accelerator at Transport for NSW, who works with developing start-ups. The students were commended for their practical transport solution and encouraged to develop their idea further to one day see it come to life in the real world!
The other finalists were
- Gilroy Catholic College, Castle Hill (Year 9) with KOLO Transport – a fully enclosed, overhead bicycle track allowing the community of North-western Sydney to use bicycles to get better access to existing public transport and ease traffic congestion in the growing area.
- Holy Cross College, Ryde (Year 10) with PTG (Post-Covid Transport Gear) – vending machines at busy Sydney train stations stocked with innovative products to keep commuters safe from germs on public transport, including personal magnetic handles and personal suction-powered handles to avoid contact with high-use surfaces.
- Katoomba High School (Year 8) with DASH (Driver Automated Service and Helicarrier) – a visionary solution to congestion in the CBD with an interconnected network of driverless pods using GPS for navigation and powered by lithium batteries, for environmentally sustainable road and aerial inter-city travel.
The Future of Transport Competition finals are presented as part of the Youth Eco Summit (YES) for secondary schools, Sydney Olympic Park. In 2020 this event was hosted virtually.
Watch it here:
2019 finals
Students from Year 8 at James Ruse Agricultural High School won the NRMA Future of Transport Challenge 2019 with the EDL (Electric Driverless Loop), a bold future transport vision to move the local residents of Parramatta around the key destinations in their area rapidly without needing to fight through the traffic below and disturb the existing roads and infrastructure below.
The winning team excited the judges Nell Payne, Executive General Manager Motoring and Stephanie Salter, Director of the Digital Transport Accelerator at Transport for NSW with the quality of their idea and how it could be adapted to support Sydney’s future master plan which envisages a three “30 minute cities” to house Sydney's growing population.
The other finalists were
- Davidson High School (Yr 9)—EST (Elevator Space Transportation) - a cost effective and low pollution was to deliver materials to space without costly and polluting rockets.
- Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt (Yr 10)—The Overbus - a large electrified ‘bus’ on rails travelling over cars on freeways moving people quickly between major transport hubs without being stuck in traffic.
- Willoughby Girls High School (Yr 10)—WPT (Wheelchair Pod-car Transformer) - a driverless transforming wheel chair/pod car able to deliver independence and mobility to the elderly and the disabled.
2018 finals
Four finalists pitched their ideas live in front of a panel of transport industry experts comprising of NRMA CEO Rohan Lund, Sue Wiblin (New Mobilities Manager, Keolis Downer) and Michael Apps (Executive Director, Bus Industry Confederation Australia) who questioned them on their research and the effectiveness of their product.
|
School |
Name of Product or Service |
Year |
|
Abbotsleigh College |
Flow |
10 |
|
All Saints Greek Orthodox Grammar School |
Wake me app |
9 & 10 |
|
Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt |
Mobile Train Attachment |
10 |
|
Waverley College |
Carlaborate |
9 |
About the winning pitch Mobile Train Attachment from Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt
MTA (Mobile Train Attachment) is series of pods that can attach and detach from a ‘train’ of pods enabling people to enjoy private travel while at the same time being part of an environmentally sustainable mass transport solution.
The students envisaged each individual pod as an electric powered driverless vehicle that could decouple from the train to take passengers to and from their home and then return to the train to conserve energy. Each number of pods could be scaled up or down depending on the time of day and number of passengers making it more environmentally sustainable.
2017 finals
Last year’s finalists delivered four excellent pitches with Moriah War Memorial College voted by the students as the winner.
|
School |
Pitch |
|
Masada College
|
FINN (Fatigue Identification And Notification Network) – a personal digital solution to reduce death and injury on the road arising from fatigue. |
|
Moriah War Memorial College |
Passenger – an on demand electric Autonomous Vehicle (AV) car share program. |
|
St Andrew’s Cathedral School |
Canopy – redesigning city centres to suit the people who live and work in them, not to suit the cars that we drive. |
|
Waverly College
|
Ride for Rewards – a reward program for bike riders to reduce traffic around schools and increase active transport and exercise. |
Feedback from the teacher of the 2017 winning team - Moriah College
In a changing world, it is critical to equip learners with collaborative and creative problem-solving skills. The NRMA Future Transport Challenge is an excellent platform for Youth to explore and grow these critical skills. During the project, I created a learning ecosystem where students could develop authentic resilience in the design process, learn methods of cooperative innovation, and dare to be experimental.
The winning team’s project, Passenger, is a true demonstration of how a group of Year 10 students applied these skills and solved a real-world problem. Each student contributed uniquely, and together, the team produced a sustainable, mathematically efficient, and original solution for Australia’s future transport system.