PERTH: Adelaide has hosted a milestone event in automotive technology, with the first driverless car trial in the Southern Hemisphere on the Southern Expressway concluding without a hitch.
Volvo has predicted the cars could be ready for public use on Australian roads by 2020.
A modified Volvo XC90 using driverless software was put through its paces, ferrying passengers at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour during a series of demonstration runs.
The route included several turns to highlight the vehicle’s ability to negotiate bends, slow down and accelerate.
Some analysts have predicted the new technology could reduce accidents and increase fuel efficiency.
Today’s trial went smoothly, unlike yesterday when Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan hit an inflatable kangaroo in another of the vehicles at Torrens Parade Ground.
Politicians, police officers and journalists were given rides in the vehicle along the Expressway.
The trial was organised by the ARRB (Australian Road Research Board) Group.
Before the trial, ARRB general manager Gerald Waldron said the modified Volvo would be accompanied by a standard vehicle.
“At times it’ll be following that vehicle and that vehicle will brake so that it has to manage that situation and slow down to avoid running into it,” he said.
Stephen Mullighan in driverless car
PHOTO: SA Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan was in this self-steering car as it ploughed into an inflatable kangaroo during a demonstration. (ABC News)
“It’ll stay within its own lane and the driver won’t have the hands on the wheel or their feet on the pedals. The car will just manage the whole journey itself.”
“If the laws are changed we are ready to bring autonomous driven cars to the Australian market,” managing director Kevin McCann said.
“I am confident that within three or four years we can have cars with autonomous drive features being driven on prescribed roads.”
Premier Jay Weatherill was among those who took a ride in the vehicle, and said the technology had the capacity to save lives.
“The saddest job of a police officer is to attend a family and tell them a member of the family has died,” he said.
