Australia may not be the global epicenter of self-driving, connected car technology or electric vehicles following the death of local car manufacturing, but a new two-year trial involving the Victorian state government, Lexus and telecom giant Telstra has ambitions to get the ball rolling on these automotive advances – and eventually reduce road trauma.
The initiative will see a pair of specially-modified Lexus RX 450h SUVs accumulate data as they drive, by communicating with each other (via vehicle-to-vehicle tech, or V2V) and with infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure; V2X or V2I).
In theory, the cars will be forewarned of potential risks, such as approaching vehicles at intersections with poor visibility, or if another vehicle is about to run a red light. This is achieved via other vehicles or by smart traffic lights, road side sensors and live traffic data.
In future all cars are likely to include advanced levels of communications equipment with AI software to manage the encrypted flow of data between each other and road infrastructure.
In time, the more infrastructure and more cars that are constantly communicating, the more information drivers will have access to. Traffic flow will improve and, in theory, high-risk situations will be flagged and potentially averted, with the objective to reduce road deaths.
Thus far in 2018, the total Australian road toll (with one month remaining in the year) stands at 1050 -- down four per cent from 1094 in 2017. NSW had the highest number of road deaths with 331. Queensland recorded 223 fatalities, leapfrogging Victoria (194) compared to the year prior.
Scott Thompson, chief executive of Lexus Australia, said the new trial is the first step on the path to a road toll of zero in Australia.
"The role of Lexus as an innovator and leader in the development of advanced safety and traffic-management technologies is central to our parent company's global vision to reduce traffic fatalities to zero," he said.
Many other car brands, such as Volvo, and the Transport Accident Commission are also targeting zero road deaths. The global road toll sits at around 1.35 million this year.
The two-year trial involves VicRoads and the Transport Accident Commission and is funded by a Victorian Government grant program designed to foster safety technology in the automotive arena.
Telstra's contribution will be to leverage "new features of the 4G cellular network".
It's not clear what these new features are and whether it involves government-level clearance, or just general wireless data transfer.
As autonomous cars become safer and more predictable than human-driven vehicles, the V2V and V2X communication being trialled with the Lexus SUVs may one day underpin huge networks with the potential to make the roads safer for motorists.
"It is significant that this ground-breaking trial involves our local Connected Vehicle Services department along with VicRoads, the Transport Accident Commission and Telstra," said Thompson.
Some of the tricks the pair of Lexus RX 450h vehicles can perform include: