Self-driving vehicles will hit streets in Sydney in a trial designed to strengthen road safety and prepare NSW’s infrastructure for future automated car use. 

Using technology under development by the University of Sydney, two vehicles on roads in Chippendale will employ wireless connectivity to interact with traffic lights.

The vehicles will receive information about the intersection’s layout and timing of signal changes, and to warn of hazards such as pedestrians and cyclists.

NSW Roads Minister John Graham says the Australian-first initiative will help prepare the state for automated vehicle technologies.

“This innovative technology will put NSW at the forefront of the national conversation on smart car innovation and road safety,” he said. “This vehicle-to-infrastructure technology can make a difference now, years before driverless vehicles become the norm, because it can be retrofitted to existing intersections and built into the cars of today.

“Along with the safety benefits, this technology will also reduce traffic congestion, with communication between cars and infrastructure allowing the variation of green-light windows to alleviate long queues.”

The technology was showcased at the Intelligent Transport Systems Summit in Sydney last week, and the Cit-e software it utilises could be launched commercially next year by Sydney Co-ordinated Adaptive Traffic System.