Self-driving cars will reverse Australia's rising road toll, says FCAI

Australia’s automotive industry says the adoption of autonomous and connected vehicles will halt the increasing number of road deaths -- but only if government invests in their uptake and in roadside infrastructure.

The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, which represents automotive manufacturers, says the rapid adoption of these technologies would not only save lives but have important benefits for the environment, ease congestion in the largest cities and generally improve living standards.

Speaking at the Future of Mobility Summit at Bosch Australia headquarters in Melbourne yesterday (August 27), Tony Weber said the road toll peaked at around 3800 deaths in 1970 before governments started to take action like mandating the wearing of seat belts, introducing random breath testing and speed cameras, and requiring mechanical safety features like electronic stability control.

“By 2017 we got it down to 1275 deaths – still too many. But in recent years we have seen it kick up,” said Weber.

“What is going to be the next big improvement in the road toll? It will be the introduction of connected and automated vehicles.”

Self-driving vehicles are expected to be much safer than cars driven by humans because their sensors are never distracted, their on-board computer systems never get weary or fall asleep and their judgement never lapses. In theory, autonomous vehicles will reduce the road toll by 90 per cent – the proportion of fatalities caused by (human) driver error.

Connected vehicles – which may or may not be automated -- can talk to each other and, via roadside infrastructure, to central data banks. They will always be aware of road hazards and will ensure their drivers are alerted in good time. They can also save fuel and time by communicating with traffic signals to obtain favourable traffic light sequences on major roads.

But Weber said the mass take-up of the new technologies needed to achieve the expected road toll reductions and other advantages would not happen by itself.

“We have two options as a nation. We can either sit back and wait for it to happen or we can make it happen. That’s a decision as a nation that we need to make,” he said.

“If we want to step forward and bring automated and connected vehicles onto the roads quicker, we will get better safety outcomes and better environmental outcomes, because they are integrated, many of the packages.

“You need to have governments come in and actually make investments in the marketplace to make it happen. Otherwise, natural forces will occur.”

It’s the same with electric vehicles, said Weber, citing expert forecasts that indicate that, while battery-electric vehicles will achieve price and range parity with internal combustion engine vehicles between 2025 and 2030, they will only account for four per cent of the passenger vehicle market by then.

“We need infrastructure, most notably, recharging points. But we need incentivisation.

“Without it, we won’t get past four per cent penetration of electric vehicles in Australia. So it’s imperative, if Australia wants to be part of that, that the government acts.”

Achieving the reduction in the road toll and emissions offered by automated and connected vehicles would require roadside infrastructure that governments would have to install, said Weber.

“The government doesn’t necessarily have to pick winners,” he said, “but they have to support the emergence of these new technologies if they want to bring them to market sooner rather than just let the market act.”

He said governments often only looked at the cost of infrastructure and failed to assess the savings that might accrue after new technology was installed.

“This is part of the problem. Governments don’t always measure the benefits.

“Less accidents mean less people who are injured on the roads ending up in hospitals, allowing the resources of hospitals to actually look after sick people rather than people who don’t need to be there.”

“The problem is: Will the investment be made in the transport budget that will result in reduced costs and a lower budget in the hospital sector? Are governments sophisticated enough to actually find that connection and make the right allocation?

“Because the reality is it may actually be cheaper to subsidise better technology in its global sense because the cost of the inputs are lower than the savings you get from the health system.”