Australia gets first taste of driverless cars

The first-ever driverless car trials are about to be held in Adelaide, against the backdrop of a new survey by fleet management company Fleetcare that found two out of three Australian drivers would be likely to buy a driverless car.

The trials will be conducted over the weekend commencing November 7, bookending the International Driverless Car Conference held the two days preceding. Both events are conducted under the aegis of the Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), which is supported by partners including Telstra and EastLink. to be hosted by South Australia over the same weekend.

Among the demonstrations will be a Volvo XC90 showcasing some of the now-common driver-assist technology including adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping and active queue assist.

The Fleetcare Driver's Poll was conducted nationally and questioned more than 1000 drivers, revealing that Australians could be more enthusiastic about the potential of autonomous cars than some of their counterparts in the U.S.A. and the U.K.

Polled on how they would feel about driving their own vehicle on the same road as driverless vehicles, 77 per cent said they would be either "very, or somewhat willing". The poll found that half the drivers questioned would be "very willing" to take part in the Adelaide trials by travelling in a driverless vehicle, while 28 per cent said they would be "somewhat willing."

Among concerns about driverless cars mentioned by survey participants was the potential for technical malfunctions (33 per cent), inadequate local information leading to mistakes (15 per cent) or the threat of hackers getting into a car's systems (10 per cent).

Fleetcare suggested the minimal concerns (6 per cent) about inadequate sensors or monitoring technology could be due to the familiarity with, and acceptance of, existing functions such as active cruise control, lane-departure systems, blind-spot warning and autonomous emergency braking.

Other concerns included the road insurance implications for driverless cars, while there was some scepticism about the reliability of common electronic devices using similar technology, including sat-nav systems and even mobile phones.

According to Fleetcare CEO Nigel Malcolm: "We have found a surprisingly high level of willingness to embrace a technology that is significantly different from what we currently use. Australian drivers are under no illusions about the potential pitfalls of driverless cars. But even taking these into account, the majority of drivers believe their lives would be safer and easier."