Skip to main content

Eastlink launches annual self-driving vehicle survey

The first major survey of motorists’ attitudes to self-driving vehicles is now underway in Victoria, Australia on the privately-owned Eastlink freeway, a north-south transport artery in the east of Melbourne. Self-driving vehicle technologies such as highway autopilot are increasingly offered by the latest production vehicles in Australia. Further advances will continue to occur, with hands-off-the-wheel driving on EastLink and other suitable freeways expected within the next few years, subject to legisl
September 12, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The first major survey of motorists’ attitudes to self-driving vehicles is now underway in Victoria, Australia on the privately-owned Eastlink freeway, a north-south transport artery in the east of Melbourne.


Self-driving vehicle technologies such as highway autopilot are increasingly offered by the latest production vehicles in Australia. Further advances will continue to occur, with hands-off-the-wheel driving on EastLink and other suitable freeways expected within the next few years, subject to legislative changes.

EastLink is already involved in trials of the latest vehicles to identify opportunities to improve the compatibility between the latest self-driving vehicle technologies and freeway infrastructure.

To complement these technical trials, EastLink with support from the Australian Road Research Board, has launched the Annual Victorian Self-Driving Vehicle Survey, the first major survey of Victorian motorists’ perceptions of, and attitudes to, self-driving vehicles.

The 2017 survey will identify a baseline for motorists’ perceptions and attitudes. EastLink will then repeat the survey annually to track changes into the future.

Related Content

  • Autonomous driving – what can we really expect?
    June 6, 2016
    Dave Marples of Technolution BV looks beyond the hype to the practical implementation of autonomous vehicles. Having looked at the development of this sector for some time, I am concerned about the current state of autonomous driving development as engineering (and marketing) have run way ahead of the wider systemic, and legislative, requirements to support an autonomous future.
  • Vision 2016 highlights the latest trends and technology in machine vision
    October 28, 2016
    The Vision Show is the perfect venue to catch up with the latest moves, trends and launches in the traffic vision sector, and ITS International editor Colin Sowman highlights a few to start with…
  • Growth of ANPR applications for enforcement, tolling and more
    February 1, 2012
    Automatic number plate recognition continues to find new applications beyond the traditional. In coming years, we can expect the application set to grow significantly Moore's Law has seen to it that computer processing power has improved out of all comparison in the 30-plus years since the first working Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system was created by the UK's Police Scientific Development Branch. The attendant increases in systems' capabilities have resulted in ANPR being deployed globally
  • Metrocount exports traffic survey systems around the world
    October 12, 2016
    Every time you drive by a vehicle monitoring system, chances are it’s from Metrocount – systems which are on display at this week’s ITS World Congress in Melbourne. For close to 20 years, Australian company Metrocount, has been developing advanced traffic survey systems and exporting them around the globe. Its multi-award winning system has remained customerfocused, with feedback from road managers incorporated in updates to ensure the system continues to deliver useful traffic information. “Traffic surve