The South Australian Government plans to rewrite its road laws to legislate for future driverless vehicles – some of which it hopes will be built in SA.
“Our Motor Vehicles Act was written when the FB model Holden was being released to the market in 1959 and our Road Traffic Act two years later,” SA Governor Hieu Van Le told the opening of Parliament in a speech written by the Government.
“[The] Government will reform both pieces of legislation and also legislate for driverless vehicles, which will revolutionise transportation in South Australia.”
The move follows a visit to Adelaide late last year by former General Motors executive and adviser to Google’s driverless car project Larry Burns. The Government is presumably hoping to make use of Holden and other now under-utilised – and in some case to be closed – auto-making plants. Premier Jay Weatherill said the Government is keen to make hybrid-engine and electric vehicles the preferred option on CBD streets within a decade.
Meanwhile, the UK Government says it will publish a code of practice in coming months which will allow the testing of autonomous cars, and a full review of current legislation to encompass driverless vehicles by 2017.
