Veolia Customer Story

With more and more Brisbane residents out enjoying the environment or commuting to work, the risk of an incident, particularly where a VRUs comes into contact with a waste management truck’s mechanical arm or bin while being collected, has greatly increased.

Across Australia, there are hundreds of near misses each day and, unfortunately, too many incidents each year where people walk under the bin as it is returned to the ground after collection or get knocked off their bicycles and scooters.

According to Andrew Forbes, BCC Contract Operations Manager for Veolia, some of these incidents have required medical treatment and all take a psychological toll on the Veolia drivers.

Over the years Veolia has tried many systems to assist drivers to identify VRUs and reduce the number of near misses and interactions causing injury or damage. In the past, these solutions used the best technology available at the time – radar – but it had its shortcomings with respect to reliability and user-friendliness.

In 2023, SGESCO-MAX, a long-term safety provider to the sector, approached Veolia with several new MAX-SAFE safety options that use AI cameras to alert a heavy vehicle driver that there are vulnerable road users near the vehicle.

These six solutions were:

1. MAX-SAFE Side-Arm Protection

2. MAX-SAFE Side View

3. MAX-SAFE Corner View

4. MAX-SAFE Rear View

5. MAX-SAFE 360o View

6. MAX-SAFE Reverse Watch 2.0 (which can detect obstacles and people over a 50m²  area behind a vehicle)

All of these solutions (bar Reverse Watch) use AI cameras positioned at key points on a vehicle, with the cameras incorporating Machine Learning (ML) technology which is highly accurate in detecting humans and objects within a defined zone. The MAX-SAFE offerings can be integrated with other MAX-SAFE safety options to provide a more robust solution for Veolia. For example, the solutions can be installed with

• Alerts:

  • Spoken alert inside the vehicle to warn drivers (pedestrian left, pedestrian right).

  • Flashing lights on the side of the vehicle and an external speaker to warn VRUs to stand clear.

• An in-cabin high-definition monitor screen (for the MAX-SAFE 360o View), giving visual oversight of the vehicle and position of any VRUs.

• An Active Braking mechanism to halt the motion of the truck or vehicle part.

Veolia was most excited about the potential of the active arm braking system that would stop the arm automatically when a VRU encroaches the working area when the lifting arm is in action, said Andrew. This system could vastly reduce the number of incidents where a VRU has contact with the lifting arm or bin.

In mid-2023 SGESCO fitted these six new solutions onto a side-arm collection vehicle within the Veolia Brisbane City Council residential contract.

All the solutions except the MAX-SAFE 360o View were installed to trigger external VRU and internal driver alerts when a VRU approached a working vehicle.

An active braking system was also installed alongside the MAX-SAFE Reverse Watch 2.0. This solution automatically brakes a reversing vehicle much faster than a human can react to a VRU alert.

The trial went for approximately six months with a small group of experienced drivers trained on the new safety systems and responsible for providing feedback to Veolia and SGESCO-MAX on the implementation.

At first, Veolia and the drivers were hesitant about how the systems would work. Their main concern was around false detections and driver alert overload due to warning buzzers and sounds that the vehicles already had in place.

SGESCO-MAX worked closely with Veolia and the drivers of the trial vehicle to fine tune the systems to achieve a reduction in false detections.

Of the 1200 to 1400 collections that the trial vehicle completes each day there were less than 10 false detections reported. That is less than 1% across all six solutions that had been installed.

The audible alert to the driver that announces “Pedestrian Left” or “Pedestrian Right” proved to be more beneficial than a simple buzzer or alarm sounding.

The external light bar was a great visual alert to the VRU, however Veolia drivers believed that having the external speaker volume increased so it could be heard effectively over the vehicle engine noise, hydraulic systems, noise from the lifting arm and traffic noise, had the most impact in warning.

Drivers found the in-cabin monitor that worked alongside the MAX-SAFE 360o View took some getting used to. However, after a few months, this was no longer the case. As soon as a driver was alerted to the presence of a VRU, their first instinct was to check the display to see the VRU’s location and proximity to the vehicle. This allowed the driver to ensure the VRU had safe passage around the vehicle.

During the trial of the six new MAX-SAFE solutions, SGESCO-MAX, working closely with various body builders, was able to advance the capability of their Side Arm Protection solution to actively halt the movement of the arm.

In mid-February 2024, the MAX-SAFE Side-Arm solution was upgraded on the Veolia trial vehicle in the final stage of the trial of that solution.

“With 99+% detection accuracy of the VRUs, Veolia has been impressed with the reliability of the MAX-SAFE solutions,” said Andrew.

Concurrent to the Brisbane trial, Veolia in other states trialled other solutions including those based on lidar. Those systems did not perform to the standard of MAX-SAFE, he said.

“Veolia is seeking a national solution to become the standard for ALL vehicles. In the next few months, we will decide on the new safety solutions we plan on installing to the current and future vehicles in the Brisbane fleet,” said Andrew.

Benefits of the MAX-SAFE Solutions include: 

• Provides assistance to the driver

• Safeguards blind spots around the vehicle

• Protects VRUs, staff and property
  

• High accuracy – detects people (stationary and moving)
  

• More affordable than sensor systems

• Suitable for most ANZ conditions
  

• Can provide alerts and audible warnings
  

• State-of-the-art AI German technology
  

• Greater safety and peace of mind – for operators and fleet managers
  

• Designed, manufactured & supported in Australia

• Part of the MAX-SAFE Safety Eco-System

With thanks to Veolia for provision of images of fleet vehicles.