Autonomous-driven future gets a push

The automous driving bandwagon is gathering speed, with two lobby groups promoting the cause during the past week.

James Goodwin, CEO of ANCAP (the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme) attended the House of Representatives to promote the safety aspects of the autonomous motoring technology that will take the human factor out of driving. He presented the ANCAP case to the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science & Resources’ Inquiry into the Social Issues Relating to Land-Based Driverless Vehicles.

“The reality of ‘driverless’ cars on our roads is some way off but autonomous technology is here and its increased roll-out will have a major impact in improving road safety,” Goodwin told the pollies.

The ANCAP boss explained to the MPs that active cruise control, autonomous emergency braking and lane keep assist were 'Level 1' technologies that would be the starting point for a raft of new integrated systems underpinning fully autonomous cars (which the car companies describe as level four or level five autonomy).

“These Level 1 automated technologies are already in the marketplace and ANCAP is assessing and rating vehicles with these features which will form the ‘building blocks’ for highly autonomous, or potentially driverless vehicles in the future.”

“We would urge consumers to demand autonomous technology; manufacturers to offer it; and regulators to support it.”

“With more than 90 per cent of crashes involving human error, automation is a key element in reducing road trauma and the future of vehicle safety lies with these active and autonomous features,” Mr Goodwin added.

An agenda for social change and infrastructure development
Elsewhere, during the same week, the Australian and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), a body representing 100 organisations sharing a stake in autonomous motoring, released two discussion papers concerning the future for parking and transport planning.

According to ADVI's Executive Director, Rita Excell, the prospect of driverless cars taking to the streets will force a rethink by town planners in years to come. And the impact will be far reaching for all Australians.

“Because most vehicles typically sit idle for 96 per cent of the time it creates a lot of wasted parking spaces in the city, streets and homes," Ms Excell said.

"We can expect multi-storey car parks being transformed into community spaces, on-street parking becoming a walk or cycle lane, and home garages being used as green space or extra living area instead.”

More importantly, perhaps, existing multi-storey car parks could be converted to affordable housing...

But there's more, says the ADVI boss.

“Instead of annual insurance, registration and running costs, people will be able to book a vehicle to pick them up and take them to a specific location – which means they will still have the convenience of an on-call car, without ongoing costs and parking challenges,” she said.

“We are already seeing an increasing number of people preferring mobility-as-a-service, which has seen the likes of Go Get and Car Next Door responding to commuter need for an alternative to owning your own vehicle. While the demand for mass public transit will continue, driverless vehicles offer significant cost advantages over public transport, especially for first and last mile services.”

Where personal and public transport meet
Parking is a significant factor in vehicle running costs. That would be negated if society chose, en masse, to abandon private vehicle ownership and go with the ride-sharing services. But there will be those who still prefer to own a car, even one that won't let them drive...

Even those owners, however, will appreciate a car that can handle the drudgery of finding a parking spot for itself, dropping the driver and passengers at the door first.

“Vehicles that valet park by themselves is the likely next step, where the driver leaves the vehicle to park itself using a map of a parking structure and external vehicle sensors to find a parking space, and then is summoned by a driver to be picked-up," says Excell.

"Already today the technology that allows a driver to get out of the car and let the car drive into a space means that we don’t need as wide a space and with vehicles parking themselves more efficiently, and safely, parking-related crashes will become a thing of the past.”

As major cities continue to radiate outwards (and upwards), public transport infrastructure will connect people and places in the inner suburbs and central business districts, leaving autonomous cars to service the outer suburbs, where public transport is often overextended currently, and inflexible or uneconomic. ADVI is lobbying for governments to cease relying on history as a guide to future development.

“The major challenge facing urban and regional transport planners is that they normally rely on age-old quantitative data sets to inform future infrastructure investment, but that fails to recognise disruptive technologies like driverless vehicles,” said Ms Excell.

“What is needed is an integrated process that embraces a much larger view of mobility, and considers the changing transport options of users. A growing number of Australians are opting to not have a licence, and as we see a decline in car ownership, transport planners can learn from many other countries that have already embraced the Mobility as a Service concept as a step towards incorporating driverless vehicles into the transport mix.”

The ADVI discussion papers can be downloaded from the public domain website.