We investigate the approaches for road and transport agencies towards investing in physical infrastructures to support the uptake of self-driving vehicles. Through a sequential analytical framework, we provide plausible future uptake scenarios by transport tasks, assess their infrastructure needs, evaluate the economic merit of supporting investments, including the implications of investment timing. The recommended investment approach is based on prioritising infrastructures that have strong economic merit as well as high strategic value that promotes uptake. An appropriate level of investment is estimated for individual Australian states and New Zealand which utilises the latest readiness audit undertaken by Austroads. We find that line makings, road signs and traffic signals offer the greatest immediate potential for upgrades that will benefit both conventional and automated vehicles.

ARRB: Simon Xue, Robert Kochhan; University of New South Wales: Elnaz Irannezhad; Transoptim Pty Ltd: Andrew Somers