Bosch to trial driverless tech on Australia’s high-speed rural roads

311 Bosch has received an automated driving system (ADS) permit from the Victorian government to test automated vehicle technology on high-speed rural roads in the south-eastern Australian state.

Bosch is to use a $2.3 million grant from the Connected and Automated Vehicle (C/AV) Trial Grants Programme to develop the technology, which will be tested later this year.

The C/AV programme funded through the government’s $1.4 million %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Towards Zero Action Plan false https://www.towardszero.vic.gov.au/what-is-towards-zero/road-safety-action-plan false false%> – an initiative which provides guidelines on how Victoria will work towards reducing deaths by 20% and serious injuries by 15% in five years.

Acting state premier Jacinta Allan says the probability of being killed on a rural road is five times higher than in the city.

“That’s why we’re rolling out a record roads investment in rural Victoria – and this is another way we can improve safety and save lives,” Allan adds.

The testing will be conducted on roads that expose an automated vehicle to a range of different traffic, weather and infrastructure conditions.

Knowledge gathered from the trial is expected to provide a better understanding of the infrastructure required for the deployment of C/AVs.

In the US, Bosch recently partnered with 2069 Daimler to trial an automated driving ride-hailing %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external service false http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/general/news/bosch-and-daimler-to-trial-automated-ride-hailing-service-in-san-jos/ false false%> in San José, California, during the second half of this year.