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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-06-18 Daily Xml
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Autonomous Vehicle Trial

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (14:25): My question is also to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister update the house on the autonomous vehicle trial in Renmark?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:25): I thank the member for the question, and I note his keen interest in all things the Riverland. It is a beautiful part of our state. I also note the member for Chaffey's obvious keen interest in the Riverland. Something is happening in the Riverland that is actually quite groundbreaking and revolutionary. It depends on what the house thinks about this, but something is happening in the Riverland at the moment that is really quite exciting, if this is something that takes your fancy.

We have had for a while some money put aside from the Future Mobility Lab Fund to undertake an autonomous vehicle trial around Renmark, connecting a retirement village with some very important points around the town. It will help elderly people to connect with things as part of their daily lives. What we have just now signed off on is the ability for that trial to go ahead. A very stringent risk assessment process is undertaken by a committee that undertakes these autonomous vehicle trials, and I was proud to sign off on that only a couple of weeks ago.

Essentially, an EasyMile EZ10 vehicle is now being provisioned to go around the streets of Renmark. It will be staffed by people who work at SAGE Automation, a fantastic local South Australian business that is driving forward innovation in this space. It also has research staff who, in conjunction with the SAGE people, will remotely monitor and check the performance of this vehicle from Flinders University.

They are also undertaking a community perception survey because we know that one of the most important things about these autonomous vehicle trials is the ability of the community to accept this new technology as something that can be part of our everyday lives. This trial, a little unique from the other trials, centres around a retirement village. Having said that, we have obviously done some work down on Fleurieu Peninsula in the same sort of vein. What we have found through the trials to date is that it's actually older South Australians who are willing to embrace this technology.

We have not seen a barrier where this is something that the kids all understand and will get involved with: this is something that older South Australians are willing to embrace because they can see the benefits of mobility for them into the future. Helping keep people connected to the broader community through this technology is one of the very many benefits of having autonomous vehicles on our roads.

Something really exciting is happening in Renmark, and that is that, for the first time in the country, we are going to see an autonomous vehicle use a dedicated intersection to cross a busy road. Essentially, what is going to happen is that the autonomous vehicle is going to trigger a sensor that triggers a traffic light sequence change across one of the roads on its path. The cars in the other direction are going to stop and the autonomous vehicle is going to cross the road. This might sound quite simple, but it is actually very complex.

This is the first time in the country that this is being undertaken. What we will learn from this trial will quite heavily inform the next steps for autonomous vehicle technology here in South Australia. There are some really exciting things happening. What we are demonstrating through this trial is a potential commercial-use case going forward because we know that, whilst these trials are exciting and we learn things, we need to find ways to embed this technology on a day-to-day basis, on a commercial basis, in our community. What we will learn from what is happening up in Renmark is very much going to inform that. This vehicle will travel at 20 km/h, which is a bit quicker than is normal.

Again, I think that this is a really exciting development. For those of us who find this sort of stuff pretty cool, it is a massive step forward, and I look forward to the next steps in our autonomous vehicle future.

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