Page 2740 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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Our city is connected through 3,000 kilometres of roads in a network and our government is investing in new road infrastructure to meet the needs of our growing city, and the maintenance of our existing roads. We are investing $199 million in road infrastructure in this financial year alone, including duplicating the Cotter Road between the Tuggeranong Parkway and Yarralumla Creek.
As the Molonglo Valley continues to grow, we are investing in even more road infrastructure in the region. Works have begun on $33 million in infrastructure to grow Molonglo, which includes duplication of Coppins Crossing Road south from William Hovell Drive towards the Molonglo Valley, along with preliminary investigations into a new link from John Gorton Drive through to the Tuggeranong Parkway, which at the moment is known as the east-west arterial road.
In the future, roads in the ACT will provide the platform for the growing number of electric cars and eventually autonomous vehicles on our roads. I am pleased that the ACT government is investing $1.35 million from the budget to fund a trial of self-driving technology in the ACT.
Like many Canberrans, I have been enthusiastically following the development of self-driving vehicle technology. Coupled with reliable and cheaper electric vehicle technology, autonomous electric cars have the potential to replace conventional vehicles in the future, and we will all benefit. The ACT government has already lowered duties for fuel-efficient cars and provided electric-car charging stations across the territory. We are also lobbying Waymo and Tesla to test more driverless car technologies in Canberra.
It is clear that self-driving cars are on their way. While some advanced driver assistance technologies are already here, they will become much more sophisticated over the next few years. Fully driverless technology will take longer to develop, however. Nonetheless driverless cars are definitely a part of our future.
Electric cars are already here and are gradually becoming more affordable. The first deliveries of the lower priced, and aesthetically pleasing, Tesla Model 3 will take place in November this year in Australia, and will include inbuilt semi-autonomous driverless vehicle technology with the capacity for fully autonomous upgrades. I had the opportunity of driving a Tesla Model X last week with the Electric Vehicle Council and to test out some of the semi-autonomous vehicle’s features.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis has predicted electric cars will generally become cheaper than conventional cars by 2022. The combination of electric and autonomous vehicles has the potential to provide significant environmental benefits, increased safety through reduced human error and an increase in leisure or work time for commuters while en route to their destinations.
Importantly, though, we must recognise that autonomous vehicles will not displace the role of mass transit systems like light rail. Cars are still cars, and they will still cause congestion, autonomous or not. A mix of transport solutions, with autonomous
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