ANDREW Barr and Shane Rattenbury say the growing interest in driverless vehicles is welcome, but they warn that if we cut and paste overseas regulation we risk giving the cars a red light in Canberra.

“Self-driving cars could well be a technological breakthrough that contributes to the way people move around cities this century,” Andrew said.

“They can bring full mobility for more people, improve access to our public transport system, and free up hours a week for those who commute to work.

“I can see a place for Canberra as a leader in this field, just as we led the way with transport innovation around ridesharing. I recently met with Tesla and my office is in touch with Google about opportunities for this transport innovation.

“It is fantastic that the business community recognises this opportunity and it is encouraging – if surprising – to see some interest from the Liberals in a new idea.

“We need clever regulation to make sure this technology is introduced safely and shaped to benefit all Canberra users – particularly for Canberrans living with a disability who are currently unable to drive or easily access public transport. We can currently permit trials of this technology under existing regulation.

“Well-meaning but overly prescriptive or mis-timed regulation could cripple the potential of this technology. Already Google has criticised the model of regulation proposed by the Canberra Liberals, which seems to be based on Californian rules, because it places limits on this future technology before it is fully developed and risks locking out the people who will need it most.”

Minister responsible for transport regulation Shane Rattenbury said this legislation is unnecessary as the Government can already allow trials of autonomous vehicles under section 13 of the Road Transport (General) Act 1999 by disallowable instrument.

“The Liberals’ ‘autonomous car’ bill is just a transparent part of their anti public transport, anti light rail campaign,” Shane said.

“Autonomous vehicles do have the potential to improve road safety and social inclusion in particular, and the ACT government is keen to support the innovation.

“However, we also need to be realistic about the role autonomous vehicles can play. They are not an alternative to sustainable transport solutions, such as buses and light rail. The sensible and responsible approach for the future is to plan our city sustainably, building an integrated transport system that includes public and active transport, as well as emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles, and ensuring we don’t become congested and polluted like Australia’s bigger cities.

“The ACT government has a strong track record of encouraging new entrants and new technologies into the Canberra market – Uber is an obvious example. One reason regulating ridesharing has worked so well is that we worked closely with industry to get the full benefit from the technology, while ensuring protections for the community.

“I want to work with the industry to make sure that any regulatory changes we make to bring the early versions of self-drive technology to our city attract global leaders in this area.”

[Photo by Michael Shick – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0]