Groundbreaking technology including autonomous trucks will be a part of the industry, NTC says.
The Australian trucking industry will be a hotbed of technology in the coming years and operators need to accept it, the National Transport Commission (NTC) says.
NTC CEO Paul Retter says groundbreaking applications that allow vehicles to talk to one another and surrounding infrastructure, enhancements to in-vehicle telematics and the eventual introduction of self-driving trucks are the future.
Australia has done some work on intelligent transport systems (ITS) and cooperative ITS, while internationally the use of the semi-autonomous vehicles is taking hold.
“We strongly believe that over the next few years, in-vehicle telematics, ITS — intelligent transport systems — cooperative ITS where we’ve got vehicle-to-vehicle, [vehicle]-to-infrastructure type technologies in place and, indeed, in the future a move towards more automated vehicles is the way of the future and will reap huge benefits for this country in terms of productivity and safety,” Retter says.
“My view is that we need to embrace technology. This industry has traditionally been an industry that has embraced technology of every sort as it became available. We have some of the most innovative vehicles in the world here. This is just another step in the journey.”
Retter says he has strong support when it comes to greater use of vehicle technology, given that human error is to blame for the majority of crashes.
However, he adds that there are still a large number of operators in the trucking industry not using technology such as in-vehicle telematics.
“We need to move the industry forward and actually see greater take-up of telematics and other types of technologies. it will improve business performance as well as safety outcomes,” Retter says.
Do you agree with the National Transport Commission that autonomous trucks are the way of the future?
Posted by Owner Driver on Sunday, 23 August 2015
Photography: Brad Gardner