Australia and New Zealand have a long road ahead before they are ready for driverless cars, a KPMG report has revealed.

The Autonomous Vehicles (AV) Readiness Index ranked 20 countries by how open and prepared they are for the rollout of autonomous vehicles. Countries were assessed across four key areas: policy and legislation, technology and innovation, infrastructure and consumer acceptance. 
 
The Netherlands emerged as a “clear leader”, ranking number one for its infrastructure, and in the top four across all other categories. The report stated that the Netherlands “provides an AV readiness model for other countries to follow, with excellent road infrastructure, a highly supportive government and enthusiastic adoption of electric vehicles”.

Australia was ranked 14th overall. It received the maximum score for its mobile networks, but was penalised for the quality of its roads, and poor availability of 4G and electric charging stations.
 
However, in an opinion piece for Fairfax Media, Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg anticipated that the global electric vehicle revolution would make its way to Australia, bringing more charging stations.  

"Australia's 476 public charging stations will quickly grow over time, especially in Queensland, where the state government is creating a ‘super highway' of charging stations; and in NSW where the NRMA is building 40 fast charging stations,” he said.

Although Australia scored reasonably well on AV-related policy and legislation, it was downgraded due to the current law stating that a human driver must be the legal ‘driver’ of the AV. Australia’s technology and innovation score took a hit due to the lack of AV technology company headquarters and patents, and because the research found no relevant investments. Additionally, relatively few Australians drive electric cars.

The research recommended that Australia focus on improvements to roads and electric charging infrastructure to become AV ready.

New Zealand fared better, coming in ninth overall. It received praise for its reputation as a “technology test-bed”, helped by NZTA’s support for companies testing AVs. It was rated second only to Singapore on policy and legislation, and scored well for consumer acceptance.

It scored in the bottom five countries for infrastructure, however, due to low levels of 4G coverage outside of heavily populated areas, few electric charging stations and middling ratings for road quality and road infrastructure.

Paul Low, KPMG Australia’s Management Consulting Partner, said AVs will be just one of the major disrupters hitting Australia’s transport system in the next 10 years.

“Others include road pricing, mobility as a service and increasing contestability in public transport operations. These will drive different institutional and regulatory structures that will challenge the historical model of transport agencies with their focus on infrastructure development and system regulation,” Low said.