Automated vehicles open way to slash cost of road congestion

Self-driving vehicles have the potential to reduce the cost of congestion on Australia's roads by more than a quarter over the next decade if there is a quick take-up of the technology, new modelling shows. The cost of congestion to the nation would, by 2030, drop to $27 billion a year from $37 billion if automated vehicles made up 30 per cent of the kilometres travelled, according to analysis of a "fast-penetration scenario" by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. Drawing on the analysis, federal Cities and Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge will tell a conference on Monday that potential benefits from self-driving vehicles would be the equivalent of spending tens of billions of dollars on boosting the size of roads and railways. A trial of an automated shuttle bus has been under way at Sydney Olympic Park since late 2017. "There are several ways that automated vehicles can reduce congestion, but the main one is that it would allow cars to safely travel more closely together," he will say in a speech to the Cities Symposium in western Sydney.