Pillar: Relationships
Lead directorate: CMTEDD
Overview
Canberra is building a reputation as a place with a highly educated and technology savvy community, a progressive government, and as a good place to trial new technologies. We work with business, citizens and academics to understand the potential of emerging technologies and provide the conditions to safely trial and learn.
The CANdrive project was co-designed with the Australian National University and the University of Canberra to test new technology and enable one of Canberra’s growing knowledge companies, Seeing Machines, to develop its value proposition in a real-world scenario. This enabled Seeing Machines to strengthen its leadership while helping us understand the emerging technology and how and why regulation may need to change.
The drone delivery trial by Wing has been testing drone delivery in Australia since 2014 and has conducted three trials around Canberra. Factors for Canberra’s selection included the international reputation of the Canberra-based Civil Aviation Safety Authority as one of the most safety-conscious, innovative aviation regulators in the world. Other considerations included Canberra’s per-capita income, its scattered suburbs, digital savviness and talented and experienced unmanned aviation workforce.
Status update
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April 2021
| The CANdrive automated vehicle trial was completed in early 2020 and was successful in meeting its objectives: - It raised the profile of Canberra as a location for trialling advanced technology, including the Easymile automated shuttle bus trial in May 2019 that transported aged care and retirement village residents at IRT Kangara Waters;
- It helped establish the need for driver awareness monitoring as an important safety aid in semi-automated vehicles, with the technology being recognised internationally and in Australia by Car Safety Ratings bodies and car manufacturers;
It engaged university research staff from the University of Canberra, Australian National University and University of Newcastle with leading edge research and equipment of Seeing Machines; - It provided evidence supporting the value of automated vehicles for older drivers – maintaining capacity for older people to drive is important in cities such as Canberra to their social connectedness with resultant mental and physical health benefits;
- It reinforced Seeing Machines’ leadership in driver awareness monitoring.
WING AVIATION - Wing Aviation Pty Ltd, a drone delivery service operated by Alphabet, began trialling drone delivery technology in the ACT in 2017. The trial was in Bonython.
- Wing’s delivery service now operates to eligible homes in the ACT in Mitchell, Crace, Palmerston, Franklin and Harrison from a base in Mitchell. There are plans to gradually include more suburbs in Gungahlin in the future.
- Wing’s introduction to the ACT has allowed the ACT Government and Commonwealth regulators to better understand and respond to community attitudes to this new technology and the best ways to accommodate drone delivery in our city for the future.
- The presence of Wing and its drone delivery service in the ACT is part of the Government’s commitment to a smart and innovative city mindset and engaging with emerging industries.
- The ACT remains optimistic about the potential benefits of drones and drone delivery services; these include:
- empowering local businesses to reach more customers
- cutting greenhouse gas emissions and making life easier for Canberrans living with mobility challenges.
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