Fearless Conversations: Smarter cars to take up less space on the road and ease the traffic squeeze

New technology may be the solution to Adelaide’s traffic delays with more cars squeezed into less space on the road, an Advertiser-Flinders University transport forum has heard.

Frustrated Adelaide motorists can look forward to up to a 40 per cent improvement in traffic flow when smarter vehicles hit the road.

While the improvements may partly be swallowed up by increased numbers of vehicles, driverless cars in particular will make far better use of existing infrastructure.

The predictions were made by Flinders University engineering professor Rocco Zito at the university’s joint Fearless Conversation forum with the Sunday Mail and Advertiser last week.

Prof Zito said one of the biggest advantages driverless cars had for traffic flow was to be able to stay far closer to the vehicle ahead.

“There will be increased capacity in every lane because there will be minimal headways with driverless cars squishing up right behind each other because they can quickly react to the car in front,’’ he said.

Driverless bus demonstration at Sandy Bay. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones.

“The cars will be able to ‘talk’ to the infrastructure so the traffic lights for example they will be able to co-ordinate running by speeding up or slowing down and making it through all green lights on the route.

“In some areas all roads will be able to be one-way, increasing traffic capacity further.

“Cars will be able to tell the driver or make adjustments to the route themselves to avoid high traffic congestion.”

Prof Zito said there would also be fewer traffic issues caused by cars pulling in and out of petrol stations.

He said some roads could reclaim lanes for traffic which were currently taken up by parked cars.

Driverless cars would commonly drop off a passenger and then return to their remote location at a home or parking area outside the CBD.

Transport Department ceo Tony Braxton-Smith said Adelaide motorists are struggling with a State Government catch-up program to carry out $750m of overdue infrastructure maintenance.

“We had a period where people were no doubt saying ‘why can’t we have this road fixed up’ and now we are experiencing drivers questioning some of the delays being experienced,’’ he said.

Prof Zito said there was a need for very careful planning of infrastructure because of the rapidly changing roadscape.

“The Transport Department is in a real bind because we are building infrastructure that will be around for 50 years or more, but technology means we will be able to squeeze 20, 30, 40 per cent more into existing roads,’’ he said.

Panelists from last week’s Fearless Conversations public transport forum. Rocco Zito from Flinders University, moderator Matthew Abraham, Tony Braxton-Smith, Mount Barker mayor Ann Ferguson, Gawler Mayor Karen Redman and Daniel Gannon from the Property Council Executive Director Daniel Gannon: Picture Mark Brake

The Sunday Mail, Advertiser and Flinders University are running 13 Fearless Conversations, one each week, to promote thought on the future of SA.

Last week’s Fearless Conversation included Prof Zito, Mr Braxton-Smith, Mt Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson, Gawler Mayor Karen Redman and Property Council chief executive Daniel Gannon.

“There is no silver bullet to solve transport problems and Adelaide is growing up and getting these big-city problems now,” Prof Zito said.

He said another advantage of the new technology would be safety.

“Road infrastructure will be talking to the vehicle not just about traffic flow but for example fog ahead or an oil spill, or an accident,'' he said.

“Vehicles will be talking to each other as well for example they can all be matching speeds on the highway.”

Mr Braxton-Smith said the benefits would be dependent on how the public embraced new technology, especially driverless cars.

GET ON BUSES - TRANSPORT BOSS

Buses are far more effective at transporting large groups of Adelaide commuters quickly, the Transport Department believes.

“Different modes have different capacities and ability, so the rail line idea that everyone jumps to is perfectly suitable where you have to move 20,000 people or more per hour in peak hour in one direction,’’ chief executive Tony Braxton-Smith said.

“But a system like the O-Bahn, which takes 30,000 per day, is suited to that task.

“In a city with the urban form that Adelaide has, bus rapid transit is more suited to the task than rail would be.”

Mr Braxton-Smith was responding to calls by the Mt Barker community for a rail line to cope with booming population growth, and the South Eastern Freeway traffic bottleneck.

Want to move a lot of people? Get them on buses, says Transport Department chief Tony Braxton-Smith. Photo: Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

At Sunday Mail, Advertiser and Flinders University Fearless Conversations’ forum this week, Mt Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson repeatedthe community’s call for a passenger rail connection.

She said the population growth of the area was 3.20 per cent each year, compared to the rest of greater Adelaide, 1.19 percent.

This was mainly caused by the rezoning of 1300ha of land in the area in 2010, as a major growth location for expanding Adelaide.

“One accident on the freeway and it is then mayhem. There is anger and frustration and the state government must look at this,’’ Mayor Ferguson said.

“There are challenges and opportunities, and we are delighted with our 1200 new residents each year. But many have to getto the city each day for employment and also want social activities locally.

“They were the creators of this grow by rezoning large areas of land and until we have the state government onside we willnot get Federal Government funding.”

Mr Braxton-Smith said: “The brave conversation we need to have is making public transport more relevant to the commuters aroundAdelaide”.

Mr Braxton-Smith said the population of the Adelaide Hills would need to be around 500,000 to require passenger rail to MtBarker.