John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's an absolute pleasure to rise and speak on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources consideration of Social issues relating to land-based automated vehicles in Australia. It has been a fascinating inquiry into a future that will encompass all of us and all of our communities. Ours is a generation, I think, wherein many of our parents used horse-driven or drawn modes of transport in their work in their younger years and later in their lives. Like so many in this House, for example, my father rode a horse to school in his younger years. He certainly worked with my grandfather on the family farm with Clydesdale horses as their main source of power on the farm. Our generation will also see and is already seeing the advent of automated vehicles. For our children, I predict that will be their main form of transport and source of power in the workplace in the years to come. In just three generations there will be that transition, and we are right in the middle of it.

So this has been a particularly important and relevant inquiry, and I believe that this report from our committee lays a firm foundation for future considerations of not just the federal government and federal regulators but also our state and local government counterparts. And whilst I for one have had my imagination extended in considering such futures, alongside my committee colleagues, the advice of some witnesses was particularly pragmatic and relevant. Just as marketing myopia blinded those who said that railways would never take over from stagecoaches or that motor vehicles would never replace the horse, so we must now not be blinded in considering these new futures. That particular witness suggested that we can still use the horse and carriage, especially for tourist and special event purposes, but not on freeways, which are designed for the modern motor car. Therefore it is feasible that the driven motor car that we know now can still be used in the decades ahead, but probably not on roads and infrastructure designed and developed specifically for the automated vehicles of the future.

Our report addresses a wide range of social impacts—as it should, given the title of our investigation. There are therefore a number of key considerations in our recommendations, which I'll refer to in just a few moments. We make special mention of issues that present potential benefits for some sectors of the community and challenges for others. Imagine the mobility benefits for the elderly, who can be confident in automated forms of transport that allow them to continue to engage in their communities, their social activities, and normal aspects of life such as shopping that nowadays are not possible for them. Many of them no longer hold a driver's licence, in a society that's currently designed around the driven motor car as we know it today.

Similarly, what are the benefits for the disabled, as well as the specific requirements for them in terms of continued access and facilitation of activities in totally automated vehicle systems of the decades in the future? What are the challenges for those living in regional and remote communities, where automated vehicle infrastructure, such as lane marking, road signs and other common features in urban areas that we'll notice emerging in the coming years, may not be available or even affordable in regional locations? For example, do they remain dependent on traditional motor vehicles only? Or can they expect a hybrid between automated and drivable vehicles so that they can traverse both worlds? Should they expect the same technology as their urban counterparts, perhaps? Our inquiry has considered many such issues with industry and academic experts from right around the country. Our recommendations are therefore very much couched in terms of providing direction for further consideration of these emerging issues at a federal, state and local government level.

I'd also like to address, while I'm discussing this report, the issue of changing job markets. There is significant evidence that, with the advent of automated vehicles, traditional driving jobs in the transport industry—couriers and taxi drivers, for example—may be significantly reduced or perhaps will even disappear in the long term. That future impact on our communities, on our economies, around the country must be investigated in more detail as our knowledge about the impact of automated vehicles improves.

We have during the course of the inquiry heard from a range of motor vehicle manufacturers, both Australian and foreign. While we're all conscious of the transition away from the domestic manufacture of Australian vehicles, it is instructive to consider the future directions our automotive industry is already taking in response. I'm particularly excited that Ford Australia, for example, oversees the 100 per cent design and development of the Ranger-Everest platform of vehicles here in Australia for manufacture in Thailand and distribution around the globe. That's an example of an automotive industry focused on its future in Australia, and it's pleasing indeed to know that these Australian based companies that we know so well, and other global companies that are setting up operations in Australia, will be extending their innovation into automated vehicle systems and technologies for use around the world, as we heard through evidence in this inquiry. I think this is testament to the ingenuity of our current and future local designers and engineers, who can participate and lead these innovations.

Other social issues considered included changes to urban design, particularly parking lots, which we won't need in the long-term, it is suggested; road design; and, of course, resulting changes to town planning. There are also consumer behaviour considerations—those used to public transport and, therefore, not concerned about privacy, while others not as used to that may be, particularly in regional areas. There is the issue of acceptance of other technologies that seem to accompany automated vehicle development, including, in particular, electric vehicles. There is the issue of change in vehicle ownership and the fact that significant private equity may be freed up in the years to come. Will we as individual consumers still own vehicles if there is an automated fleet available to us? Are we responsible for registering them? Will we be responsible for maintaining them? Will we, therefore, need to insure them; and, if not us as individual consumers from a property and personal insurance perspective, who might take up that responsibility?

So our recommendations include a working party with industry and academia to identify specific industry needs, covering: consideration of people with a disability, older Australians and regional Australians; trials of automated vehicles; consistency and regulation across the states, standardisation of road infrastructure in the future across the states to accommodate automated vehicles; the need to work with software and motor vehicle manufacturers; proper public engagement about what this means to all of us; and consideration, as I said, of employment ramifications as well as data security, legal liability and insurance implications in the future.

I thank most sincerely our secretariat for the fascinating program they arranged for this inquiry so that we could truly understand the social issues associated with automated vehicles of the future and the necessary areas for future research and development. I also appreciate the truly bipartisan approach that this committee took to this important area that will impact on all of us in the future and most definitely on all of the communities that we represent in this place.

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