Driverless technology arrives in NSW

The first automated vehicle has arrived in NSW! The Smart Innovation Centre has teamed up with HMI Technologies, NRMA, Telstra, IAG and Sydney Olympic Park Authority to conduct a two-year trial of the state’s first automated smart shuttle at Sydney Olympic Park.

The Smart Innovation Centre has been set up to look at new ways of using technology to improve road network safety and reliability. It’s focus will be on testing and trialling connected and automated vehicles in a controlled environment. Evan Walker, who heads up the Smart Innovation Centre, said the team has been working tirelessly to bring this project to life and are excited about what the future holds for automated vehicles.

“It’s great to see this project kick-off after a lot of hard work from within TfNSW, RMS and our partners. It's a really exciting step for this technology in NSW and for the Smart Innovation Centre.”

Melissa Lui, Senior Project Officer at the Smart Innovation Centre, enjoyed the many and varied challenges the project brought about.

“It’s been really exciting working collaboratively with industry to make the automated shuttle trial a reality. What I’ve enjoyed the most about working on this project was the sheer variety of things we had to consider and work through – technology, legislative frameworks and identifying the needs of the community are just to name a few.”

The trial is an outcome of the Future Transport Technology Roadmap, helping us to deliver on one of Roadmap’s five technology-enabled strategies - to enable connected and automated vehicle platforms.

When can you go for a ride on the shuttle? Stage 1 of the trial will involve testing in an enclosed off-road environment, before moving to operating live and interacting with customers within the precinct in early 2018.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this exciting project!

More information

For more information on this project visit the Transport for NSW website.