Driverless cars set to shift how we think
DRIVERLESS cars in Adelaide. Are we really ready for this?
DRIVERLESS cars in Adelaide. Are we really ready for this?
“Absolutely,” says Rita Excell, executive director of the Australia and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative.
“South Australians are recognised as leading the way in this space in understanding that we need a serious approach and in understanding the technology and community importance.”
The push behind the introduction of driverless vehicles is simple, she said. Safety.
“Twelve hundred people are killed on Australia’s roads each year, that’s something fundamentally wrong with our transport system,” said Ms Excell, who will present at the 10th annual SA Major Projects Conference in Adelaide next week.
“Drivers are responsible for 90 per cent of crashes on the roads. If we can take away some of these critical decisions and give them to technology then we are going to get a better safety outcome.”
A successful transition will depend upon a strong co-operative approach and it’s well beyond the sci-fi stage, with trials already underway.
“The technology is developing very quickly. Perth and the NT have deployed a 12 person shuttle on a trial basis on public roads,” Ms Excell said.
SA will fund some of the future trials via Flinders University and car manufacturers — Volvo and Ford are particularly active — and can be buoyed by strong public support.
“There was a survey of 5500 people last year and 46 per cent already believe this is going to be safer system,” Ms Excell said.
Public concerns revolve largely around the unknown such as “what if people want to take back control of the car,” she said.
The tangential offshoots of the new technology are enormous and varied and will, through necessity, instigate new ways of thinking.
“Who is liable in the event of a crash? Insurers will play a big role in persuading people they are covered,” Ms Excell said.
There is too, the infrastructure knock on.
“The supporting ecosystem mans it’s going to mean different things to different industries. There will be ramifications around how we move about, 30 per cent of city congestion is caused by people looking for space to park,” she said.
Because most vehicles typically sit idle for 96 per cent of the time, there are a lot of wasted parking spaces.
“We can expect multistorey carparks being transformed into community spaces, on-street parking becoming a walk or cycle lane, and home garages being used as green space,” she said.
”Urban planning will be significant, not just about how we build buildings for cars that no longer need to park, or for people who don’t have to have a space outside their house.”
Driverless vehicles will ultimately underpin entirely new city structures making it critical to recognise this technology as central to transport planning, Ms Excell said.
The Advertiser is media partner of the SA Major Projects Conference. The event will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre on July 25-26. Visit saconference.com.au to register.