Following years of steadily declining support for advanced driving assistance systems, self-driving technology and connected vehicles, new data demonstrates increased support for all.

That was the finding of EastLink’s latest Victorian Self-Driving & Electric Car Survey, the results of which were shared exclusively with a packed room full of transport and technology leaders at a Centre for Connected and Automated Transport (CCAT) event on 2 April. Focused on public attitudes to automated vehicles, the event was hosted by the NRMA at the Tattersalls Club in Sydney.

Doug Spencer-Roy, Corporate Affairs Manager, EastLink

Doug commenced as EastLink’s Marketing Manager during the tollway’s construction in 2006. Since then his role has evolved to include oversight of community sponsorships, corporate affairs and media relations. Doug is a key member of EastLink’s crisis management team and is also the EastLink Customer Advocate.  Previously, Doug worked at Transurban, Telstra and in the UK aerospace and defence industry.

EastLink, whose 40km road network in Melbourne comprises the tollway that connects the Eastern, Monash, Frankston and Peninsula Link Freeways as well as the Ringwood Bypass, has been surveying Victorian drivers annually since 2017 to gauge perceptions of electric and self-driving vehicles. This data is crucial for understanding the evolving public opinion on new vehicle technologies, and informs EastLink’s work to ensure their roads are compatible with future technologies.

Doug presented on the highlights of the 2024 survey (full report now available on EastLink’s website), giving attendees exclusive first access to the latest trend data on perceptions of the public to currently available and future technologies, such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), self-driving and connected technologies.

Full survey results can be found here

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Summary of latest survey results:

Driver Assist Functions:

• Usage of a wide range of driver assist functions is continuing to increase every year.
• The exceptions are active parking assistance and automatic lane changing, which are much less frequently used than other driver assist functions.

Self-Driving Vehicles:

• Following years of decline in desirability of self-driving technology across a wide range of use cases, this survey now indicates a small bounce upwards in desirability of self-driving technology for each use case.
• However, desirability remains well below 2017 levels across all of these use cases.
• Do these small upward bounces in desirability indicate that motorists’ expectations are passing the Gartner Hype Cycle’s “Trough of Disillusionment” and are now in transition towards the “Slope of Enlightenment” when it comes to self-driving vehicles?

Connected Cars:

• While there has been a small decline in desirability for vehicle connectivity over the past few years, a majority of motorists continue to desire connectivity for traffic warnings, road condition warnings, and vehicle security applications.

Doug was joined by a panel of industry experts who explored key issues relating to changing perceptions of automated transport. The panel discussed the importance of education and public trust in adopting emerging technologies like automated vehicles. Key points included the need for long-term testing, dedicated lanes for automated freight vehicles, and addressing unique use cases like remote shuttles and delivery robots.

Robert Giltinan is the Group Director of Policy & Public Affairs at the NRMA.

To support and enhance the reputation of one of Australia’s most well-known and trusted brands, Rob leads a team of passionate experts across policy, advocacy, government, community and stakeholders, and represents the organisation on numerous government, industry and community panels, including at the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.

In his welcome address, Rob shared an overview of NRMA’s support of advances in mobility and the importance of partnerships with government, industry and community. This includes support of the development of new road and transport-related legislation and regulations, trialling of automated vehicles and the roll-out of public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

During the panel discussion, Rob highlighted NRMA’s large member base as a significant opportunity for supporting public awareness and practical testing of emerging technologies. NRMA’s support for the electric vehicle rollout provides a practical template for emerging connected and automated vehicles technologies and regulations. The EV experience showed that in 2017, public enthusiasm for EVs was low, but as misinformation faded and EV infrastructure expanded—often enabled by NRMA's unique ability as a mutual to invest differently from listed companies—acceptance grew. The trajectory now mirrors the EastLink survey results: initial excitement, a plateau, and now renewed momentum.

Rob highlighted that the NRMA’s role is not to sell, but to educate. Different vehicles suit different needs, and this nuanced understanding will be key in building trust in new technologies.

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Ashleigh Cormack, Head of cities Policy, Uber

Ashleigh Cormack is part of Uber's global public policy team, leading their work across Australia and New Zealand for the last five years. Ashleigh heads Uber’s Cities policy and research program and brings valuable insights about the role Uber and transport technology can play in improving the liveability and sustainability of our cities.

Ashleigh said that the EastLink survey results are unsurprising and aligned to the sentiment Uber is seeing in the US, where the prevalence of robotaxis is growing – with partnerships in place for Uber in key markets. Interestingly, despite the increasing exposure to automated vehicles in certain countries, public trust remains a barrier. Recent data has shown that a third of Americans report feeling unsafe around automated vehicles, and nearly half oppose their presence in their cities. This signals that widespread acceptance will require time, education and thoughtful integration.

Ashleigh highlighted the importance of addressing these perceptions early. Drawing parallels with the electric vehicle transition, Ashleigh noted that while early sentiment was low, consistent public education and real-world exposure (such as through Uber rides) helped drive adoption.

“For many of us, our first experience of an electric vehicle was in an Uber, the same will likely be true for automated vehicles’

Uber sees a similar trajectory for driverless technologies and has already partnered with 40 automated vehicle companies, recently launching an integration with Waymo in Austin, allowing users to hail autonomous rides directly from the Uber app.

Dr Elli Irannezhad, Senior Lecturer of transport engineering at the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI) in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW.

Elli’s research is focussed on future freight technologies and advances science in cross-disciplinary fields, including automated driving, and heavy vehicle smart monitoring, agent-based freight transport modelling, Logistics 4.0, digital supply chain, shared economy mobility and logistics solutions, and blockchain technology.

Elli highlighted the difference in how automated vehicles are perceived in freight versus passenger transport. Personal vehicles are often tied to identity, freedom and convenience, while trucks are viewed as functional tools of productivity. This practical framing could help expedite automated vehicle adoption in this sector.

With a national shortage of over 2,000 drivers, automation offers an opportunity to fill the gap and improve efficiency. Dedicated lanes for automated freight vehicles were discussed as a potential fast-track to deployment, balancing road capacity with safety and performance.

To support safe integration, Elli described how digital twins and driving simulators can model thousands of scenarios that aren't feasible to test on public roads. By overlaying different weather conditions, human interactions (e.g., pedestrians, cyclists), and traffic scenarios, researchers can identify where dedicated AV lanes might work best or when control should be handed back to human drivers. These tools are especially useful in geofenced environments like ports or logistics hubs.

Doug Spencer-Roy also underscored the importance of infrastructure readiness. Trials conducted in collaboration with NTRO have supported EastLink to share information with vehicle manufacturers and inform improvements to their road assets, such as clearer line markings to support effectiveness of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.

The panel also explored unique use cases for automated vehicles across diverse geographies. In urban areas, issues like kerbside space requirements and vehicle behaviour need to be addressed (e.g., Waymo vehicles needing more space and time for pick up and drop offs). In contrast, AV shuttles could offer significant benefits in remote regions, especially where aging populations face transport barriers. Pavement delivery robots also came up as a promising use case. While these services rely on good public behaviour, simple design choices like adding faces have improved human interaction and acceptance. These robots have shown good outcomes for food safety and logistics but raise issues about health outcomes, with easier access to fast food.

The panel wrapped up with a call for more cohesive, long-term testing of vehicle technologies. As one audience member pointed out, trials are often too short and fragmented. To truly understand how automated vehicles will interact with communities, infrastructure, and each other, we need testbeds that allow trials to run for longer than a year and to break down silos between stakeholders.

CCAT’s Executive Director Brook Hall, who moderated the panel discussion, noted the importance of user experience as a pathway towards greater public acceptance and the successful transition to a safe, efficient and productive connected and automated transport system.

Community attitudes will be a key theme of the National Future Transport Summit, which will be held on 17 and 18 September 2025 at Brisbane City Hall.

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