Automated vehicles present a challenge for existing legal frameworks governing vehicles and drivers, and developing a unified approach to regulation that supports their commercial deployment across all Australian states and territories is a complex task.  
If individual states and territories were to regulate automated vehicles on their own, manufacturers have indicated that AVs may not be initially available in Australia due to the lack of consistency and certainty in national laws and regulations.  

This could result in creating smaller markets that may not be viable for companies to develop products for, potentially causing Australia to miss out on the benefits of automated vehicles altogether.  

To address these challenges, the National Transport Commission (NTC) has been leading the development of a national regulatory framework for automated vehicles since 2016, working collaboratively with all Australian jurisdictions to address a number of key elements, including vehicle trials and testing, determining liability, safety criteria and insurance regulation. 

Similar to other federal nations, achieving policy change within Australia is not a given, and often requires the balancing of often competing issues and priorities of many governments, over many months and years.  

The NTC's Executive Leader of Regulatory Reform, Aaron de Rozario, will speak to the NTC's efforts to create consensus among Australian jurisdictions on AV regulation and what other nations can learn from Australia - which has been recognised as a “world-leader in the creation of a forward-looking regulatory environment for AVs” and internationally as an important jurisdiction to monitor from a law-making perspective.