australian driverless vehicle initiative

Proposed changes to the Victorian Road Safety Act and Crimes Act will open the door for more advanced autonomous tests on public roads. Should the new amendments pass, self-driving test permit holders would be subject to the same legal obligations as human drivers under the current Road Safety Act and Crimes Act. Permits will be granted to manufacturers who can prove they have the requisite safety management processes in place, and are performance-based.

A pair of new-generation Volvo XC90 SUVs were driven hands-free in Adelaide this week, marking an official first for driverless technology in the southern hemisphere. Although similar technology is now featured with Tesla’s Model S and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Volvo’s hands-off operation of its specially tweaked XC90s was thanks specifically to government cooperation - and the loan of one of its own technology experts, Dr Trent Victor, sent directly from its Sweden headquarters.

South Australia has taken an important step to becoming one of the few regions in the world that allows autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads alongside regular human motorists. This month, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan introduced The Motor Vehicles (Trials of Automotive Technologies) Amendment Bill to the South Australian parliament, opening the door to an industry that experts project to be worth $90 billion in 15 years.