Driverless, but not unsupervised… yet.
The government in the state of Victoria has today begun trials of self-piloting vehicles, a move that was first made public in December of last year. The initiative is designed to “help Victoria prepare for the future,” and is being carried out with the cooperation of VicRoads, RACV, Transurban, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Tesla.
Engineers from Stuttgart and Gothenburg (the homes of Mercedes and Volvo respectively) have arrived on our shores to carry our their own data gathering and development of autonomous driving technology, with the Swedish marque crucial in the first driverless vehicle tests held in Adelaide, the first program of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The program in Victoria will stick to the areas announced initially last December, limiting trials and testing to the Monash-CityLink-Tullamarine corridor.
While this isn’t the first time fully-autonomous cars have been allowed to roam in South Australia, this will be the first time autonomous vehicles will be out on open, public roads, mixing with day-to-day traffic and regular commuters. The testing will initially focus on the performance of existing advanced driver assistance (ADAS) systems, like lane-keep assist, smart cruise control, and traffic-sign recognition, and seeing how they react and adapt to the myriad of everyday obstacles that human drivers deal with like roadworks, tunnels, temporary speed signs, faded line markings and of course, traffic.
There has been no special legislation pushed through to make this happen, as testing will be conducted with a professional driver present “and hands-on” throughout the program. It appears that the government is taking a cautious approach to the matter, with hands-free testing prohibited in this initial phase of testing. Two more phases will be completed by the end of the two-year trial, with the first phase expected to be completed by the year end.
VicRoads CEO John Merritt said that with “technology moving at a rapid pace,” it’s crucial that “roads and the community are ready for these changes.” The general manager for public policy at the RACV, Brian Negus, said that with a better understanding of the benefits advanced driving technology, insurers can react appropriately.
“We want to get a clear understanding for our members of the potential safety improvements offered by automated vehicles, how the technology works, and what the implications are for the community.” — Brian Negus, GM for public policy, RACV
In other parts of the world, autonomous vehicles continue to rack up mile after mile, collecting data that will eventually lead to software that can pilot our cars safely in an uninterrupted and unfused manner. It’s worth mentioning that presently, legislation globally has restricted the operation of truly driverless vehicles, with all ‘autonomous’ cars having a human operator or supervisor sat behind the controls. These supervised cars measure ‘failure rates,’ or the frequency that a human has to intervene when the car is driving on its own, and how far it’s managed to travel between interventions.
So if you’re in Southern Australia, you might want to keep an eye out for one of these self-driving cars. Wonder if the operators are prepared for the sheer number of incoming gawkers.
Stay tuned to CarShowroom for more updates as they come.
