Australia’s peak industry car body, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, has welcomed the release today (November 11) of a new policy paper from the National Transport Commission which creates the “roadmap” for the roll-out of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS).
The FCAI’s Chief Executive, Tony Weber, said these initiatives provide the all-important mechanisms to facilitate the progress of this advanced vehicle technology.
“The industry is delighted that the meeting of Federal, State and Territory Transport and Infrastructure ministers has moved so expeditiously in supporting plans for a progressive and well-structured roll-out program for C-ITS,” Mr Weber said.
“In the long-term, C-ITS promises to deliver significant benefits to the community in such areas as road user safety, lower traffic congestion, and reduced emissions. The industry welcomes the NTC’s plan to identify and reduce regulatory barriers and strive for a national framework.”
The NTC’s policy paper, entitled Regulatory reforms for automated road vehicles, outlines a 2-year program to facilitate increased testing and trialling of more automated vehicles under local conditions, provides clarity over insurance coverage, and aims to develop a more responsive performance-based approach to regulation.
Later this month, the NTC will release a discussion paper seeking feedback on the development of national guidelines for field trials of automated vehicles, and the FCAI will be contributing to this discussion.
The NTC’s latest policy paper can be found at www.ntc.gov.au