Government opens doors on autonomous vehicles

New Zealand has no rules stopping the use of autonomous vehicles on New Zealand roads – and is pushing that fact the the global automotive trade.

It has released guidelines around the testing of the vehicles in New Zealand, in a bid to gain the attention of foreign automakers looking to test their systems.

The move has gained the backing of industry body Intelligent Transport Systems New Zealand.

Published on the Ministry’s website, the guidelines outline rules and offer advice to any organisation considering testing of autonomous vehicles cars here and encouraging companies to share findings with the Ministry and NZ Transport Agency so that New Zealand can benefit from the opportunities this emerging technology offers.

It can be found here

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“The Government encourages the testing of semi and fully autonomous vehicles, as well as other Intelligent Transport Systems technologies in New Zealand, in order to facilitate our early adoption of beneficial technology,” the report notes.

“New Zealanders are keen adopters of new technology. The Government hopes that supporting the testing of new technology such as autonomous vehicles in New Zealand will have benefits for the country and encourage rapid uptake once they are commercially available.”

“A particular advantage of testing autonomous vehicles in New Zealand is that our legislation does not explicitly require a vehicle to have a driver present for it to be used on the road. So long as any testing is carried out safely, a truly driverless vehicle may be tested on public roads today.”

It notes the testers are responsible for the vehicle, should hold appropriate liability for the vehicle, and Police have the right to end any activity they deem unsafe.

Under Section 7 of the transport act the person liable for the vehicle can be either the driver of the person who ‘causes’ it to do something.

The document does make clear that any testing will need to adhere to the Land Transport Act and the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

Intelligent Transport Systems New Zealand is enthusiastic about the move, and hopes it will lead to a major manufacturer locating a development office here.

ITS NZ’s Cormac McBride explains, “New Zealand’s main attraction, is that New Zealand legislation already allows autonomous vehicles on our roads. In many other jurisdictions, testing is hampered by regulations, restricted to test tracks and legislation is struggling to keep up.”

“In addition New Zealand has varied road conditions, a population that is well educated and fast adopters of technology, it is one of the world’s most business friendly countries and of course NZ is great place to live.”

Until now, testing of new ITS technology in New Zealand has mainly been in the form of technology embedded within transport infrastructure and based around of variety of different sensor technologies and software that measures and models traffic speed, volumes and type.

Peter McCombs, ITS NZ chairman and chief executive of engineering company TDG is keen to point out the flow on benefits that autonomous vehicle testing would create for New Zealand.

“Most exciting for New Zealand other than the potential publicity, prestige and economic boost of driverless vehicle teams actually setting up an office here, is that there could be real benefits for New Zealand’s technology sector, in the development of supporting ITS and transport technologies and connected infrastructure.”

“New Zealand companies like HMI Technologies are already testing infrastructure to vehicle communications, Auckland’s Fusion Networks have some cutting-edge network fault monitoring technology used by transport agencies and others like Roam and Chariot are developing so called mobility as a service platforms.”

“If testing does get underway, it would be a major breakthrough with New Zealand set to benefit and we would expect to welcome many more local innovators and investors to this exciting industry sector.”

The Testing Autonomous Vehicles in New Zealand document is a significant step in the Ministry of Transport’s four year Intelligent Transport Systems Technology Action Plan 2014-2018. The document does make clear that any testing will need to adhere to the Land Transport Act and the Health and Safety in Employment Act.