Interest in automated vehicles continues to grow amongst governments, industry and the public. The introduction of advanced automated vehicles promises a number of benefits including better access to work and social opportunities for people with disabilities or those too young to hold a drivers’ licence. Further, there may be economic and productivity benefits through drivers having time to complete other tasks when they would have been driving. However, with the introduction of any new technologies into complex systems, risks may arise. This program of research, funded by Dr Gemma Read’s Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award aims to understand the potential safety risks associated with the introduction of advanced automated vehicles, to identify insights into how crashes and fatalities can be prevented and to develop recommendations to ensure they will enter our road system safely.

Related projects

In partnership with RACQ and Redlands City Council, we evaluated an on-road trial of the EasyMile EZ10 autonomous shuttle on Karragarra Island in Queensland.

You can find a summary infographic here.

Recent publications

Thompson, J., Read, G. J. M., Wijnands, J. & Salmon, P. M. (2020). The perils of perfect performance; considering the effects of introducing autonomous vehicles on rates of car vs cyclist conflict. Ergonomics, 62(8), 981-996

Pöllänen, E., Read, G. J. M., Lane, B. R., Thompson, J., & Salmon, P.M. (2020). Who is to blame for crashes involving autonomous vehicles? Exploring blame attribution across the road transport system. Ergonomics, 62(5), 525-537.

Read, G. J. M., Salmon, P. M. & Thompson, J. (2020). Using Cognitive Work Analysis to Inform Agent-Based Modelling of Automated Driving. Advances in Social Simulation, Springer Proceedings in Complexity, 385-390.

Thompson, J & Read, G. J. M. (2019). Nothing to fear? How humans (and other intelligent animals) might ruin the autonomous vehicle utopia. The Conversation, April 29, 201