AV technology ‘could reduce congestion’, says Australian minister

Congestion costs would drop by more than a quarter if automated vehicles (AVs) account for 30% of kilometres travelled, says Alan Tudge, Australia’s minister for cites urban infrastructure and population. Speaking at the Australia-New Zealand Cities Symposium in Sydney, Tudge revealed findings from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. “They estimate it would drop from $37 billion of avoidable congestion to $27 billion,” Tudge says. A 30km freeway journey in Melbourne has increas
February 26, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Congestion costs would drop by more than a quarter if automated vehicles (AVs) account for 30% of kilometres travelled, says Alan Tudge, Australia’s minister for cites urban infrastructure and population.

Speaking at the Australia-New Zealand Cities Symposium in Sydney, Tudge revealed findings from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics.

“They estimate it would drop from $37 billion of avoidable congestion to $27 billion,” Tudge says. A 30km freeway journey in Melbourne has increased from 21 to 27 minutes in the last 10 years, while average morning peak-hour journeys in Sydney now take 65% longer than off-peak trips, he added.

He claimed that AVs will reduce congestion as the cars would be able to safely travel more closely together. He referred to data from autonomous mobility developer Zoox, which showed that today’s vehicles only occupy 8% of the freeway.

“If the vehicles were automated, then they could travel far more closely together,” Tudge went on. “If they occupied, for example, 16% of the space rather than 8%, you are effectively doubling the freeway capacity.”

However, many industry experts warn that AVs will not reduce congestion unless road users are prepared to share rides.

Tudge claimed that AVs could make ride-share more affordable, reliable and widespread, therefore taking other vehicles off the road: “Combining artificial intelligence with connectivity would also allow active management of transport networks in real-time through predictive modelling, enabling congestion to be addressed before it happens.”

Tudge acknowledges that uptake for AVs will be slow but predicted that the technology will “almost certainly” be a significant feature of large cities around the world within the next decade.

But he emphasised that governments must provide the right regulatory environment. Currently, the Australian government is working with regional authorities, the National Transport Commission and 7519 Austroads - the peak organisation of Australasian road transport and traffic agencies - and the Transport and Infrastructure Council to help deploy AVs in Australia.

Last October, the government pledged $10m to advance work to prepare Australia for AVs and other transport innovations which included the establishment of the Office of Future Transport Technology within the Infrastructure Department.

Related Content

  • November 4, 2013
    NTC, Austroads partnership to focus on C-ITS
    A new partnership between Australia’s National Transport Commission (NTC) and Austroads will have a strong focus on the introduction of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS). The two associations have signed an agreement to work together on road transport issues such as research, policy development, implementation and operational matters.
    Read More
  • December 15, 2014
    Managed lanes – the riddle wrapped up in an enigma
    Managed lanes have something of a patchy track record and can pose authorities problems as well as solutions. Many authorities in the US and beyond have converted, or are converting, parts of the highway network into ‘Managed Lanes’ and charging motorists a fee to avoid the delays on the adjoining free use lanes. Some authorities have converted underused High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes into priced-managed high occupancy/toll lanes (HOT lanes) whereby the price charged can vary depending on a number of fa
    Read More
  • August 23, 2016
    Xerox takes youthful view of future transport
    Xerox’s David Cummins talks to Colin Sowman about the lessons for city authorities from its survey of younger peoples’ attitude to transport. There can be no better way to get a handle on the future of transport demand than to ask the younger generation about how they view and consume today’s transport. Sociologists have called this group Generation Z – those born between 1995 and 2007 – which will make up 40% of all US consumers by 2020.
    Read More
  • February 3, 2012
    Cooperative infrastructure systems waiting for the go ahead
    Despite much research and technological promise, progress towards cooperative infrastructure system deployment is still slow. Here, Robert Cone and John Miles take a considered look at how and when it might come about. From a systems engineering viewpoint it looks logical and inevitable that vehicles should be communicating between themselves and with the road infrastructure. But seen from a business viewpoint the case is not proven.
    Read More

Highlighted Content