The third International Driverless Vehicle Summit has been a success, reinforcing its status as the preeminent event of its type in Australia.
Nearly 300 delegates from across Australia and further afield came to Adelaide from October 31 to November 2 to hear from some of the nation’s – and the world’s – leading experts on autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies.
Summit highlights this year included the Australian debut of Matilda, as the world’s first interactive bus stop developed by SAGE Automation.
Deputy prime minister Michael McCormack addressed delegates, confirming the Government’s commitment to advancing AV technologies. He joined delegates in experiencing driverless vehicles first-hand, with a range of different AV types offered.
“We were pleased to have the support of Cohda, with one of their recently unveiled Lincoln sedans fitted with the latest vehicle to everything (V2X) technology demonstrating its ability to detect the risk of an imminent collision and adapt to suit,” summit organiser Rita Excell says.
Excell is executive director of the Australia and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI) which runs the summits.
Attendees could ride in the Navya driverless shuttle used in the FLEX trial, and an Aurrigo driverless shuttle, as part of a first mile-last mile transport demonstration.
EasyMile, which opened Asia Pacific headquarters in Adelaide in June, is testing its EZ10 driverless shuttle in the city’s northern suburbs and expects to expand the trial to Renmark in South Australia.
Summit keynote speakers provided an update on major upcoming trials.
These included a presentation by Anne Stills from RAC about one of the world’s first robo-taxi trials about to start in Western Australia.
Keynote speaker Brian Haratsis revealed results of a comprehensive ADVI commissioned study which confirms that any job losses will be more than offset by new roles created with driverless technologies.
The AV industry is forecast to be a $900 billion economy by 2025.
Planning is now underway for an even bigger and better summit next year, with the location announced early in 2019.
