Accelerated and Intelligent Road Assessment Program (AiRAP) data collection for Australian road safety

Research designed to improve road safety by accessing road data faster using new data extraction methods and machine learning.

The research was delivered by Transport for NSW in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney, the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) and Australian geospatial data experts, Anditi.

Using data from 18,000 kilometres of roads, this research explores the use of automatic, repeatable, and scalable methods for accelerated and intelligent capture of road safety-related data. This road data was held by Transport for NSW for the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) to assess and address high risk roads. AiRAP builds upon international standards and tools from the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) to advance the identification of road attributes and improve road safety outcomes in NSW. 

Project outcomes

  • Developed the AiRAP framework to provide a mechanism for existing and emerging data sources to feed network-level road safety assessments throughout Australia and worldwide.
  • Proved viability of the AiRAP framework and ‘off-the-shelf’ data for 52 of the iRAP safety attributes with 34 attributes being accredited under AiRAP.
  • Established the AiRAP accreditation framework which is data supplier independent and provides a standardised process for the conversion and validation of road infrastructure, speed, and flow data.
  • Mapped potential data providers and estimated savings of using new data sources and extraction methods.

Accelerated and Intelligent Road Assessment Program (AiRAP) Automation for Australian Road Safety Final Report

The report outlines the findings of this research that aims to improve efficiency and accuracy of road infrastructure data and deliver substantial, long-term cost and efficiency savings to TfNSW. The research investigates whether new artificial intelligence and machine-learning based data collection and feature extraction methods will improve the accuracy, reliability and scalability of capturing AusRAP data for the NSW road network.

Accelerated and Intelligent Road Assessment Program (AiRAP) data collection Final Report (PDF, 26.15 MB).

This research was delivered in partnership with iMOVE CRC and supported by the Cooperative Research Centres program, an Australian Government initiative.