Flinders to develop solar-powered driverless vehicles

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan today announced that South Australia will become the first Australian state to legislate to allow driverless vehicles on the roads.

Speaking from Flinders University’s $120 million Tonsley innovation hub, the Premier also announced that the state’s first driverless vehicle conference will be held from 5–6 November. The second day of the conference will feature driverless valet parking at Tonsley.

The state government’s initiative coincides with the news that Flinders has become a major sponsor of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge — a biennial event that sees teams race solar-powered cars through the Aussie outback from Darwin to Adelaide. Flinders researchers will participate in the 2015 Challenge as a non-competitive team in order to gather enough data to unveil a new vehicle in time for the 2017 event — hopefully to function as a forerunner to a solar autonomous vehicle.

“The 2015 Challenge presents Flinders with the opportunity to develop a prototype vehicle that we hope will go on to have widespread practical application,” said Flinders Executive Dean of Science and Engineering Professor Warren Lawrance. “Our ultimate vision is for a fully autonomous, driverless, solar-powered vehicle to ferry passengers between our campuses.”

Image caption: Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling (centre) hosted the Premier and Transport Minister at Tonsley, where they announced that South Australia will be the first state to legislate to allow driverless vehicles on the roads.