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DRIVERLESS VEHICLES ADVI


Future freight


Why automated trucking will be a boon for the Australian economy, by Rita Excell


T


he logistics sector is vital to the strength of every nation’s economy and in Australia, where it delivers


AU$94 billion in revenue annually, its importance is especially clear. Of the 8.6 per cent of national GDP (2012) generated through logistics, more than half comes directly from the road freight sector. In the 12 months to October 2014, the


road freight industry transported two bil- lion tonnes of goods over a distance of 17 billion kilometres, with nearly 15 per cent of those journeys being made just for food transportation. Given how integral the trucking indus-


try is to Australia, advances in automated vehicle technology that could signifi- cantly reduce operating costs, improve efficiency and increase safety have been the focus of the Australian Driverless Vehi- cle Initiative (ADVI), a collaboration of 75 partners from research, government and non-government organisations, whose vision is to see the safe and successful deployment of proven driverless vehicle technology in Australia. Earlier this year ADVI hosted the lead


researcher from the successful trial of truck platoons in Europe, where the tech- nological capabilities at the industry’s disposal and the collaborative and legisla- tive appetite for change was on the global stage, helping truck platooning to gain traction in Australia. In Australia, the average truck driver is 50 years of age. Consequently, there is an


CONNECTED AUSTRALIA SUPPLEMENT 14 www.thinkinghighways.com


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