Government ministers lay groundwork for self-driving cars

The National Transport Commission (NTC) has released a policy paper this week, outlining the changes that will be ushered in during the next two years – all to pave the way for future autonomous vehicles in the Australian market.

Titled 'Regulatory reforms for automated road vehicles', the policy paper is the end result of deliberations last week by the nation's transport ministers attending the Transport and Infrastructure Council.

Leading up to the Council meeting, the NTC had conducted a one-year project to pinpoint the hurdles that will hold back autonomous motoring in the future. This project involved extensive consultation with interested parties and consequent recommendations that were put to the Council.

Among the reforms approved by the ministers, the policy paper cites increased testing, a review of insurance law as applied to autonomous vehicles involved in a crash, and a 'more responsive performance-based approach to the regulation of more automated vehicles' – whatever that specifically means.

"Inconsistent rules, regulations and application procedures for automated vehicles are potential obstacles to deploying this disruptive technology in the future," said Paul Retter, Chief Executive of the NTC.

"Our goal is to identify and remove regulatory barriers, and avoid a patchwork of conflicting requirements in different states and territories," the NTC boss was quoted saying in a press release.

Within the next few weeks the NTC will release a discussion paper for comment, seeking proposals for national guidelines that would define the parameters for trials of automated vehicles.

New laws for autonomous vehicles anticipated to be on our roads from 2020 or earlier will clean up, 'federalise' and supersede any existing legislation that could be applied to the new technology. Those laws will attribute responsibility for control of the vehicle according to the level of autonomy. The NTC and the transport ministers are concerned that existing legislation – which very likely differs from state to state – will assume a human driver behind the wheel at all times.

In the short term at least, the transport ministers are broadly agreed that a human driver is to be held legally in control of any vehicle that is not fully autonomous. The ministers are willing to adopt a different position in the future, presuming the situation changes. Nothing has been revealed by the NTC concerning fully-autonomous vehicles and who would be specifically liable under projected Australian law for injury and damage – the vehicle owner, or the car company that built it.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) approved of the NTC's announcement of 'deliverables' for what the FCAI calls Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS).

"The industry is delighted that the meeting of Federal, State and Territory Transport and Infrastructure ministers has moved so expeditiously in supporting plans for a progressive and well-structured roll-out program for C-ITS," said the FCAI's Chief Executive, Tony Weber.

"In the long-term, C-ITS promises to deliver significant benefits to the community in such areas as road user safety, lower traffic congestion, and reduced emissions. The industry welcomes the NTC's plan to identify and reduce regulatory barriers and strive for a national framework."

The policy paper can be downloaded from the NTC's web page.