On 29 May 2018 the National Transport Commission (NTC) published the Changing Driving Laws to Support Automated Vehicles Policy Paper (Policy Paper), which outlines recommendations for the implementation of a purpose-built national law for the regulation of Automated Vehicles (AVs).
The recommendations made by the NTC were approved by the Transport and Infrastructure Council (Council) on 18 May 2018. This represents the latest step in the NTC's broad national reform program, which is designed to put end-to-end regulation in place by 2020 to support the safe commercial deployment and operation of AVs at all levels of automation
See our previous alerts:
New South Wales prepares to give the green light to the trialling of driverless vehicles,
Autonomous vehicles: Reimagining regulation and business opportunities and
Autonomous Vehicles Trials.
What has been recommended?
The NTC proposes that a uniform approach is taken to driving laws to regulate AVs through the development of a purpose-built national law that will:
- allow an Automated Driving System (ADS) which is compliant with the safety assurance system to perform the dynamic driving task when it is engaged;
- ensure there is a legal entity responsible for the dynamic driving task when the ADS is engaged - the Automated Driving System Entity (ADSE);
- clarify who the responsible entity is at each level of automation when the ADS is engaged;
- provide obligations for relevant entities including the ADSE and the user of the AV; and
- provide a regulatory framework with flexible compliance and enforcement options
Obligations on the ADSE
The NTC proposes that when the ADS is engaged in the dynamic driving task at conditional, high or full automation (SAE levels 3 to 5), the ADSE should be responsible for compliance with obligations associated with the dynamic driving task. The new laws will also identify any additional duties and obligations that an ADSE will be responsible for that do not form part of the dynamic driving task.
The NTC has chosen this approach because the ADSE identified under its safety assurance scheme will be the entity with the most control over the ADS.
The ADSE will only be responsible for tasks within its control and will not (except for narrow exceptions) be responsible for "non-dynamic driving" task obligations which have been placed on a driver. The limited "non-dynamic driving task" obligations for which the ADSE will be responsible could, for example, include a requirement to comply with directions of a police officer directing traffic.
Readiness to drive obligations on users at conditional automation
New readiness-to-drive obligations are proposed to apply for human "fall-back ready users" in AVs engaged at conditional automation (SAE level 3). This is consistent with the NTC's view that the ADS is in control when it is engaged at conditional automation.
The NTC's concern is that if fall back users are engaged in secondary activities they may not be able to sufficiently resume the dynamic driving task if required.
The NTC recommended that at conditional automation human users (even if not driving at all times) must nevertheless:
- remain sufficiently vigilant to respond to ADS requests, mechanical failure, or emergency vehicles and regain control of the vehicle without undue delay when required;
- hold the required driver's licence; and
- comply with drug, alcohol and fatigue obligations.
The NTC will, however, continue to monitor technological developments and international approaches to secondary activities being performed by a fall back user.
No readiness to drive obligations on passengers in dedicated automated vehicles
The NTC recommended that in a Dedicated Automated Vehicle (DAV), there will be no obligation on any user of the vehicle to be ready to drive or take control of the vehicle at any time. This is because, for example, even if there is a driver's seat, it may not be occupied.
The NTC defines a DAV as a vehicle with no manual controls enabling it to be driven by a human driver so that the ADS is always performing the dynamic driving task.
Next Steps in Law Reform
To facilitate the implementation of a purpose-built national law, the NTC will be conducting a legislative analysis of the model Australian Road Rules and the Heavy Vehicle National Law to identify which driver duties fall within the dynamic driving task and which of these duties should be the responsibility of the ADS when it is engaged.
The NTC is to coordinate a national working group with membership from the states, territories and the Commonwealth to agree to a nationally consistent approach to the analysis of state, territory and Commonwealth legislation. This analysis is to be completed by the end of November 2018 ahead of the May 2019 meeting of the Transport and Infrastructure Council.
Further recommendations of compliance and enforcement options as well as potential offences, penalties and sanctions for driving laws are also to be made to the Transport and Infrastructure Council at its May 2019 meeting.
