CCAT was honoured to host a stakeholder event in Brisbane on 3 September to showcase and explore ‘Use cases for automated vehicles in Australia’.
Our expert speakers Sebastien Glaser, Amit Trivedi and Rahila David presented an overview of use cases in their respective areas of expertise and participated in a an interactive panel discussion with a diverse audience from government, academia and a range of transport and non-transport industries.
This event was sponsored by the ARC Training Centre for Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions.
In opening the event, MC Bec Kennedy shared an overview of CCAT and highlighted the diverse applications of automated vehicles at varying stages of deployment in Australia and overseas.
With a mission to facilitate the transition to connected and automated transport in Australia and New Zealand, CCAT is uniquely positioned to support the sharing of information and learnings across different transport and non-transport modes.
Professor Sebastien Glaser – Rural and remote regions
Professor Sebastien Glaser presented on challenges for Australia in automated vehicles within rural and remote communities.
With over 20 years of experience in the field of Automated Driving, Sebastien is a Professor at QUT, spending his time between the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Engineering. He is also a co-director of the ARC Training Centre on Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions.
In his presentation Professor Glaser shared the potential benefits of automated vehicles for rural and remote regions in Australia:
- Creating competitive advantages
- Addressing driver shortages
- Access to mobility
- Safety and value
- Road safety
- Improved transport efficiency
- Improved road safety
- Increased productivity
He highlighted that while Australia is comparatively advanced in the deployment of automated transport within key industry sectors such as agriculture and mining, there are a number of key challenges that Australia faces in the deployment of automated vehicles on public roads, particularly within rural and remote areas. These include adaptability to the Australian environment, regulatory challenges and public acceptance.
Sebastien also shared an update on the work being done during the ARC Training Centre on Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions’ establishment phase to develop the use cases and refine the strategy for the different phases in the training centre.
Amit Trivedi - Robotaxis
Amit Trivedi leads the Safety Technology Projects team at the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. With an objective to assess safety benefits and impacts of introducing connected and automated vehicles on Queensland roads, Amit has a unique understanding of the challenges and benefits of automated vehicle deployment in urban environments.
Amit shared his insights into the success of robotaxis in the United States and how this use case could work in Australia.
Robotaxis, or automated ride-sharing vehicles, have seen significant development in the US over the past decade, driven by advances in AI, sensor technology and regulatory changes.
Amit’s presentation focused on the development and success of Waymo and Cruise Automation, the two leading providers of robotaxis in the US. Waymo, for example, now has three significant robotaxi operations across three US states with 2 million paid trips and 50,000 trips per week.
Amit shared that there are a range of challenges to deployment of robotaxis in Australia across considerations like safety, congestion, business models and acceptance.
One issue highlighted is that providers are not required to report on non-safety incidents or issues they have caused. There has been public feedback and anecdotal evidence that robotaxis have caused traffic chaos, but this is not reflected in official reports. Issues like this can impact public acceptance and create concerns about safety, even when safety was not compromised.
Amit summarised that while progress is being made in the US examples, in his view, the safety case and business case are not yet proven.
Rahila David – Automated trucking
CCAT’s Executive Director, Rahila David provided the final presentation, focussed on automated trucking use cases. At CCAT, Rahila is responsible for building government and industry collaboration to facilitate Australia and New Zealand’s transition to connected and automated transport..
In 2023 Rahila led a CCAT delegation to Europe, with learnings reflected in ‘Transport in transition: Preparing for a connected, automated and sustainable future’. Rahila shared some of the takeaways from this study visit relevant to automated trucking, as well as considerations for Australia in her presentation.
This presentation highlighted some key emerging trends in the development of automated trucks:
- Level 4 automation: The focus is on Level 4 automated trucks. Trucks without human drivers are becoming commercially significant given the global driver shortage.
- Defined hub-to-hub routes: The nearest public road application for automated trucks is hub-to-hub freight transport on highways, where routes are already digitally mapped and autonomous systems handle routes with less complexity than urban driving.
- Closed environments: Automated trucks are also being developed for closed environments like mines and ports, Interestingly, Western Australia has the highest number of automated vehicles in the world thanks to its mining sector.
- New business models: Some OEMs are developing automated driving systems in-house, while others are partnering with software companies. New business models include companies that offer their customers everything necessary to operate a fleet – from vehicles to charging and fleet management in a service-based model.
Reflecting on imperatives for the use case in Europe (safety, driver shortages, reliability and flexibility of operations, costs), Rahila also noted that while there are strong commercial and operational imperatives driving the development for automated trucks, there are a range of issues to be addressed to prepare for their deployment in Australia. These include regulation, related technologies in road transport, data exchange and supporting infrastructure.
Q&A discussion
Following the presentations, the audience participated in an interactive discussion with presenters.
Discussion points in the Q&A included:
- As the world’s largest consumer of automated vehicle technology, Australia is uniquely placed to capitalise on productivity and safety advancements that exist in mine sites.
- A lack of OEMs in Australia puts us at a disadvantage in being able to attract automated vehicle industry participants who are already deploying in other markets.
- While Australia may not be ready to deploy robotaxis in urban areas, unique challenges of regional and remote Australia could provide ideal imperatives such as connectivity, access to services and equity issues.
- In assessing future use-cases, there should be a focus on the needs of all road users.
- There is an opportunity to define and agree Australia’s vision for automated vehicles to ensure that deployment maximises the opportunities presented by the technology.
Following the discussion delegates were invited to network and continue discussions on automated vehicle use-cases.
Events like this one are a key part of CCAT’s program of work and play an important role in supporting CCAT’s objective of being a public champion for the transition to connected and automated transport.
The National Future Transport Summit which CCAT is delivering in September 2025 aims to bring maximise the opportunities presented by connected and automated transport technologies, including the use cases outlined at this event. The Summit will be a collaborative effort between government agencies, industry, academia and community groups and will lead to an agreed set of recommendations to guide the transition to connected and automated transport in Australia.
More information on the National Future Transport Summit can be found here.
About the ARC / Sponsor
“The ARC Training Centre for Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions aims to build skills and capability to test and deploy safe, socially acceptable, automated vehicles for rural, regional and remote Australian public roads, where manufacturing, agriculture, mining and defence industries face significant challenges of driver shortages, rising costs, long distances, rough roads, and environmental impacts.
The Centre will unite technology providers, regulators, government and end users with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers to create new human-automated vehicle systems, datasets, frameworks, case studies, platforms, and a vastly upskilled workforce. This will reduce transport costs, increase capacity, boost supply chain efficiency and resilience, improve road safety, and elevate Australian capability.”