The National Transport Commission (NTC) is calling for Australia’s road rules to keep pace with rapidly-emerging driverless-car technology.
With an increasing number of manufacturers developing driverless car technologies with varying degrees of autonomy, NTC Chief Executive Paul Retter says current road rules and regulatory frameworks, designed without automated vehicles in mind, could create a barriers to an effective rollout in the future.
“Automated vehicles will be safer, more productive and give senior Australians and those with a disability more independence in their lives,” Retter says. “However, the benefits offered by these vehicles will only be realised if we get Australia’s laws and regulations right.
“For example, many road safety laws assume that there will always be a human driver, but how do automated vehicles comply with a legal requirement to hold a driver’s licence, or comply with authorised officers or give assistance if a person is injured?
“The NTC will need to look at fundamental concepts including defining the driver, what is meant by ‘control of the vehicle’ and consider how automated vehicles should interact with other road users.”
The NTC has released an issues paper outlining its concerns, and is calling for submissions from the public to help inform the discussion.
The paper states that issues such as interaction between road transport and consumer protection laws, as well as liability and insurance, and common law requirements need to be addressed.
“Governments and industry need to work together to make sure Australians get the best laws for these new vehicles,” Retter says.
The key issues put forward by the NTC are:
1. Australian Road Rules implicitly require the driver to be human
2. It is not clear whether monitoring the driving task constitutes control
3. Proper control is interpreted to mean a hand on the steering wheel
4. Many state and territory laws assume the driver is human
5. Effective operation of traffic laws will need to identify responsibility for the vehicle at a
given point in time
6. New design rules may be needed for different types of automated vehicles
7. New design rules could capture more of the driving task
8. Some in-service vehicle standards assume a human driver
9. Vehicle modification may require increased regulatory oversight
10. Some heavy vehicle national law provisions and heavy vehicle standards assume a human driver
11. Some in-service standards for heavy vehicles assume a human driver
12. Safe distance rules could limit the uptake of heavy vehicle platooning
13. Liability is well established but assigning fault could be more complex
14. Government access to automated vehicle data may warrant additional legislative privacy
protections
Any individual or organisation can make a submission to the NTC. Submission are due by Tuesday, 8 March.