Ipswich Council first to adopt Australian AI VRU protection solution for large skip waste management

One of Australia’s most safety-focused LGAs – Ipswich City Council – has become the first in Australia to adopt an advanced AI camera safety solution from SGESCO-MAX to protect vulnerable road users around collection of large skip bins. 

MAX-SAFE ReverseView has been installed on a new Volvo FM hook truck used to collect skip waste bins measuring 32m 3 – ensuring VRU protection at the rear of the vehicle. 

Used by a range of commercial clients across private and public sites, these large waste skip bins are pulled onto the back of the Volvo FM truck via a hydraulic hook and transferred between refuse stations, client sites and vice versa. 

Ipswich Council has had a long-standing partnership with heavy vehicle safety specialist, SGESCO-MAX, having been the catalyst for the creation of new safety solutions customised to the unique requirements of the Australian waste management sector. 

This has seen Ipswich City Council deploy as standard on all heavy vehicles MAX-SAFE Anti-Rollaway – an active braking solution – and MAX-SAFE ReverseWatch – a reversing sensor that detects people and obstacles behind a vehicle. With these solutions installed, if a council truck were to detect a hazard behind the vehicle the vehicle would brake itself before a driver could respond. 

The new Volvo FM 8x4, which was recently added to the Council’s waste management fleet, comes standard with an electronic park brake, effectively having its own anti-rollaway system. All that was required was the installation of MAX-SAFE ReverseWatch 2.0 – SGESCO-MAX’s latest rear blindspot and VRU protection solution. 

The truck has one of longest wheelbases in the council’s waste management fleet. Configured as a hook truck the large skip bin, when loaded on, overhangs the rear of the truck by approximately 1.8 metres. 

This proved a challenge for the operation of the ReverseWatch solution that had to be inset into a specifically designed checker plate frame at the back of the chassis, approximately 700mm above the ground. 

Due to the overhang of the bin, the radar would detect the bottom of the bin triggering the solution to brake the truck. 

Deciding to prioritise protecting vulnerable road users (VRUs), SGESCO-MAX   developed a solution to replace the radar with an AI camera as the sensor. The camera was set to detect VRUs and activate the brakes when a person was spotted within the programmed danger zone. 

Working with Volvo’s electronic braking function, this solution results in a gentle braking action that stops the truck in a very short distance ensuring any person at the rear is safe. 

Known as MAX-SAFE ReverseView, the solution operates at all times except for when a skip bin is being hauled onto or off the bed of the truck – at which point the safety solution is automatically isolated. Thus, this advanced AI solution works when the truck is stationary or moving in reverse, when there is a skip bin on the truck or none at all. 

“The driver operating the new vehicle has been extremely happy with this new solution as it does exactly what it needs to,” said Bradley Degen, Program Coordinator (Workshop Operations), Fleet Services, Ipswich City Council. 

“With protecting people at the rear of a council vehicle being a non-negotiable safety requirement, we are very pleased that we have a safety solution that is performing to the standards we want to uphold,” he said.