Australia will trial self-driving cars in regional Queensland as experts anticipate the technology will officially hit the roads by 2030.
The cars will be tested on roads in Mount Isa under a project dubbed ZOE2 and will inform officials on whether our roads, lines, signs and infrastructure are built for them.
Australia has been ready for self-driving cars for the past four years, Queensland Transport and Main Roads project lead Amit Trivedi said.
“It is a new wave of mobility and technology coming to our roads and we as a government want to be ready and reap the benefits for our people,” he told 9News.
The cars have also been programmed to be extra safe for the trial.
“Human’s reaction time is between 1.3 to 1.4 seconds whereas an automated vehicle’s reaction time is three to four times better,” Trivedi said.
Mount Isa resident Ranita Toholke took a ride in one of the self-driving cars and said it was “amazing”.
“I was really surprised. It was a bit daunting the fact that you didn’t have to do anything,” she said.
Trivedi forecasted that about 2 to 10 per cent of new vehicles sold in Australia will have highly-automated features built in by 2030.
While the self-driving cars are still years away for Australia, Waymo robo-taxis have taken passengers on more than 1 million rides in the US.
