DRIVE A2B February 2021

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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE Automated Vehicle Trials! Future automated vehicles are predicted to improve Australia in many aspects – from sustainability, fuel efficiency, traffic flow, road safety, mobility and accessibility, to productivity. However, as we know, before they are commercially deployed, they need to be tested on our public roads to ensure they are 100% safe to be used, and this is where trials come into play. These trials, using automated cars, pods and shuttle buses, have taken place in Australia since 2016, and many Australians have had the chance to experience the technology. The National Transport Commission (NTC), an Australian statutory body created to develop regulatory and operational reform for road, rail and intermodal transport, is working together with fellow government agencies to establish a complete and functional regulatory system that supports the safe commercial deployment of automated vehicles in Australia. In November 2020, the NTC compiled a report with an overall view of the automatic vehicle trialling, highlighting key findings and lessons learned regarding the trials’ framework which consists of importation, trial application and national trial guidelines; the operation and outcomes of trials themselves; and how trials are chosen and evaluated. Applying for a trial involves submitting an importation application to the Commonwealth to import the vehicles and a trial application to the state/territory governments to approve a trial on public roads. The NTC has observed that trial 12 DRIVE A2B magazine · www.drivea2b.com.au · February 2021
applicants could be provided with more clarity on the importation process and trial application process. A suggestion is that governments organise a centralised online portal for potential trial applicants to view in the one place the process of a trial from the very start to end. There have been key findings about the technology, project operation, safety, road users, occupants, reporting and infrastructure of the trials. We have to remember that automated vehicle trials shine a light on many things other than the technology itself. Other elements that provoked thought were business models, viability as a transport solution, test infrastructure and public acceptance. Moving forward, governments and trialling organisations should consider what learnings and outcomes they want arising from running these trials in their jurisdictions, as to assist in their decision-making in the future. Most of the automated vehicle trials that have been carried out have used automated shuttle buses, and these trials have come up with similar results across all areas. Yet, from the great amount of automated shuttle bus trials actioned to date, the path to commercialisation is still not evident. Technology providers will look to progress their testing to larger, more complex trials and test out commercial business models. It is vital to increase public acceptance of this technology prior to commercial deployment. The thousands of Australians who got to experience the technology first-hard in the trials generally reacted very positively. Sharing takeaways from the trials among governments surrounding matters like safety incidents (including those with human operators) and trial locations is significant in avoiding potential safety incidents and the duplication of trials, respectively. In order for Australia to be in an optimal position for the commercial deployment of automated vehicles, governments need to be confident in the objectives of the trials, so they are able to evaluate them in consideration of those objectives. Some state/territory governments are driven to partner up with trialling organisations as funders, while others assist in creating a ‘safe space’ for trials in their jurisdictions. Trialling organisations, on the other hand, have contrasting reasons. Depending on the type of trialling organisation, it may want to test the safety of the technology or want to encourage the industry and address transport disadvantages. As the government plays a central role in the ongoing nature of the trials, it needs to consider the full scope of objectives for trialling, especially the objectives that go beyond their regular objectives and go beyond industry objectives. Clearer objectives will lead to better evaluation, which in turn will lead to better sharing. Evaluation and sharing learnings haven’t been on the top of the priority list for state/territory governments, but it is now obvious that governments will need to learn from each other so that Australia is at the best position to launch automated vehicles commercially. The good thing is that there is a willingness to be more open. Austroads is working to facilitate this. DRIVE A2B magazine · www.drivea2b.com.au · February 2021 13
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