The NTC should broaden its review of legislation that may need to be changed to enable the introduction of automated vehicles, the ATA has said in this submission.

While the ATA supports the NTC’s proposed review, the submission calls for the NTC to look beyond the body of transport law in order to avoid issues in later stages of automation development and implementation.

Some additional areas of legislation suggested in the submission include:

• Competition and consumer law – protections for buyers, sellers, lessors and lessees;
• Criminal law – liability, negligence, theft, property damage and missing persons;
• Privacy law – data collection, access to data, encryption, automatic data transmission;
• Infrastructure laws – tolling systems, traffic signalling, speed limits; and
• Radiocommunications law, as there is every indication vehicle-to-vehicle communications will be transmitted.

The submission also cautions the NTC that any laws or law amendments relating to automated vehicles developed through this review should not encroach upon the legal rights and individual freedoms, privacy and privileges of the individual.