Commercial vehicles will share roads with CAVs and will also be them
It may be just a few days old but the federal Parliament’s Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities has garnered near 50 published submissions for its mass-transit automation inquiry.
Chaired by the Liberal’s John Alexander, the inquiry seeks to find the best approach as “governments and industry prepare for the introduction of automated vehicles [AVs] on our road and rail networks”.
“A critical role for government is ensuring that automated vehicles enhance the sustainable development of our cities and regions,” Alexander says.
“Transport automation should figure in the master planning of the urban and interurban environment alongside everything else.
“The committee is also keen to explore how new fuel sources, such as electricity and hydrogen power, can augment our mass transit systems.”
Not many submissions so far have tackled the issue of automated transit vehicles interaction with commercial vehicles, though iMove Cooperative Research Centre did observe on the alternative fuels front that “automation/connectivity and new fuels/propulsion methods appear to be driving innovation in each other”, leading, through efficiency and cleaner vehicles, they will provide transport systems that reduce out impact on the environment”.
Read how the two biggest states are tackling automated driving, here
NTC view
The National Transport Commission (NTC), while not specifically addressing alternative propulsion, did observe there was a need “to ensure national consistency and international alignment, while allowing for a range of potential future technologies”.
The NTC notes that its reform program on automation is focused on tackling gaps and barriers to the safe AV introduction, focused on driving responsibility, assuring the safety of the vehicle, insurance and government access to data, particularly on privacy and surveillance protections.
It is now “closely with stakeholders to ensure that any new safety obligations in an automated vehicle national law interact appropriately with existing legislation”.
For fleet owners and operators, gauging how soon their drivers might have to deal with high levels of automation on the roads is not at all clear, with the NTC noting that “there is no specific research of automated vehicle uptake of penetration in the Australian market”, though it does assume it will correlate with that projected in international research.
It notes a recent Austroads report, Future data requirements for automated vehicles, that highlighted the need for greater consistency in road traffic signage as digital infrastructure requirements are assessed.
The NTC has already published a Safety assurance for automated driving systems: decision regulation impact statement (Decision RIS) outlining the key risks that need to be addressed to ensure the safe commercial deployment of automated vehicles.
NSW progress
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) does mention freight by way of contextualising the challenge of growth.
“Freight volumes are estimated to double in the Greater Sydney area, and to increase by 25 per cent in regional NSW over the 40 years to 2056,” it says.
“The number of daily trips in Greater Sydney by all transport modes is forecast to increase from 11 million in 2016 to 15 million in 2036.”
TfNSW also looks at connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), noting their promise in reducing motorway congestion by 15-60 per cent and arterial road congestion by 5-15 per cent, depending on the level of CAV uptake.
“CAV technologies are advancing rapidly and are already available in vehicles on the market,” it says.
“A small but growing number of new cars and trucks in NSW already include partially automated systems such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist and automated emergency braking.
“These technologies offer significant safety and other benefits to road users today in cars and heavy vehicles.”
Otherwise, TfNSW emphasised the complexity of the task that makes further research, trials and continued engagement with governments and industry inescapable.
Road freight related CAV research it is involved with includes two main projects.
One is the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Initiative in the Illawarra “which is the largest connected heavy vehicle safety trial in the world. Operating since 2014, the trial has fitted connected vehicle technology to up to 60 heavy trucks, 11 buses, 50 light passenger vehicles, and one motorcycle.
“Seven signalised intersections, four roadside stations, and one rail level crossing have so far been equipped with C-ITS. The technology will allow vehicles to ‘talk’ to each other and traffic signals up to 10 times a second, and alert drivers to upcoming hazards, improving road safety.”
In the other, TfNSW and Roads and Maritime Services are running the Freight Signal Priority trial. This is “a further trial using connected vehicle technology is testing congestion effects of giving trucks priority at traffic signals to reduce the number of times they stop at traffic lights. The trial expands on NSW’s award winning Public Transport Infrastructure Priority System, which gives traffic signal priority to improve reliability for bus passengers”.