Australians "leading the way" on automated vehicles

An automated vehicle trial is underway in Australia on Melbourne's Monash-CityLink-Tullamarine corridor to help the state of Victoria prepare for the future of driverless vehicles.

The State Government is partnering with roads authority VicRoads, RAC Victoria and Transurban, to trial connected and automated vehicles from manufacturers BMW, Mercedes, Tesla and Volvo.

They say the study will look at how to prepare road infrastructure, regulations and the community for the integration of this new technology into our transport system.

This first phase of the programme will examine how features like lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control and traffic sign recognition, respond to the road environment including tunnels, road works, congestion, electronic speed signs and line markings.

The vehicles involved in the trial comply with existing Australian Design Rules and road safety regulations and will have professional drivers who will be holding the steering wheel at all times when conducting trials in live traffic.

 

Phase one of the trial will be complete later this year. The complete trial program will take two years and consists of three phases.

Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan, who spent much time at last year's ITS World Congress learning about transport technology said, 'Victoria is at the forefront of automated vehicle technology ' we're investing in this trial to explore ways that this technology can be used to reduce crashes and keep people safe on our roads.'

(Picture shows the driverless vehicle demonstration at the ITS World Congress in Melbourne's Albert Park, October 2016)