For CCAT’s first stakeholder event of 2025 we were proud to partner with CCAT member Transurban to welcome more than 70 delegates to network over breakfast on 18 February 2025. 

Focussed on realising the benefits of self-driving vehicles, the event featured a welcome address from Transurban’s Jeremy Nassau, a keynote presentation from UK policy expert Isobel Pastor and an interactive Q&A discussion moderated by CCAT’s Executive Director Brook Hall. 

Representing Host Partner Transurban, Jeremy Nassau provided a welcome address.

Welcome address - Jeremy Nassau, Head of Future Transport and Partnerships 

Jeremy is Head of Future Transport and Partnerships at Transurban.  His background extends across a range of roles at the intersection of strategy, technology, smart infrastructure and innovation. More recently, Jeremy has been exploring connected and automated vehicle (CAV) opportunities and implications for Transurban, leading and safely delivering a wide range of trials across various jurisdictions and CAV use cases, together with key government and industry partners. Jeremy is also a CCAT Board member and a co-vice president of ITS Australia.  

Representing Host Partner Transurban, Jeremy Nassau provided a welcome address which highlighted the role that infrastructure and vehicle technologies can play in solving key transport challenges for Australians. 

To support planning and preparation for the deployment of transport technologies, Transurban have had a long-term focus on innovation which has been supported by research, analysis and on-road trials of connected technologies, advanced driver assistance systems and automated vehicles in the freight sector. 

Jeremy provided an overview of these trials, including safety protocols, data sharing, results and learnings. These findings can support more effective planning for Transurban and their partners through a better understanding of how infrastructure and technology can be leveraged to support automated truck deployment in delivering an increasing freight task. 

A founding member of CCAT, Transurban continue to demonstrate leadership in the transition to connected and automated transport. 

Keynote presentation - Isobel Pastor 

Isobel Pastor delivered an insightful keynote into the UK’s approach to driverless vehicles.  

Before moving to Melbourne in October 2024, Isobel led the UK Government’s Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles. During her time there, the UK published a comprehensive strategy and passed world-leading legislation to unlock the potential of self-driving vehicle technology. Isobel is an experienced public policy professional, having held senior roles delivering funding, reform and regulatory programmes to help transport achieve wider social goals and outcomes. These have included: airspace policy reform to maximise efficiency while managing noise impacts; the role of transport infrastructure in supporting housing delivery; and meeting air quality requirements. Isobel began her career working in the Government Office for Science and has a long-standing interest in innovation and regulatory reform. 

The Center for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CCAV) was founded in 2015 by the UK Government as a hub to support automated driving. CCAV’s mission is to promote the safe development, production and use of connected and automated mobility technologies in the UK to deliver societal and economic benefits.  

Importantly, CCAV is a joint initiative of the Department for Business and Trade and Department for Transport – demonstrating the dual importance given to both transport and industry outcomes. Isobel highlighted that this model was key to enabling the demonstration and realisation of the economic benefits of the market and in future-proofing the automotive manufacturing sector. 

Highlighting the factors in the Government’s decision to support the development of self-driving vehicles, Isobel shared the following key drivers: 

• Safer Roads (Human driver error is a contributory factor in 88% of reported road collisions.) 

• Increasing productivity and economic growth (The UK self-driving sector could be worth as much as £42 billion by 2035, creating as many as 38,000 new, skilled jobs.) 

• Improved access to transport (In 2019, 25% of adults in England did not hold a full driving licence) 

The world-leading Automated Vehicles (AV) Act became law in May 2024, enabling advanced technology to drive vehicles on UK roads. Underpinned by road safety principles, the law requires self-driving vehicles to achieve a level of safety at least as high as ‘careful and confident’ human drivers and meet rigorous safety criteria before being permitted on roads. In passing this legislation it was anticipated that deployment of vehicle technologies will positively impact statistics of deaths and injuries from collision factors like drink driving, speeding, tiredness and inattention. 

Isobel underscored the crucial role of a robust academic foundation and combined government-industry R&D investment in the UK's successful automated vehicle strategy. She highlighted notable success stories, such as Wayve and Oxa, autonomous vehicle software companies that originated from research projects at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, respectively. 

On the UK Government's approach to public education, Isobel discussed, "The Great Self-driving Exploration." This social research project used public engagement events in traditionally under-engaged communities to familiarise them with self-driving vehicles and gather insights into their views. A key finding was that firsthand exposure to the technology significantly improves public recognition of its potential advantages. 

Isobel outlined key findings and lessons from the UK's experience in implementing self-driving vehicles, emphasising: 

• Concurrent Regulation and Trials: Collaborative efforts between government, regulators, and industry are essential for developing adaptive and effective regulations alongside trial deployments. 

• Human Factors in Regulation: Addressing human factors is critical, particularly for safe transitions between automated and human control in self-driving vehicles. 

• Data Challenge Resolution: Overcoming data complexities, including privacy, security, and interoperability, requires addressing both technical and legal aspects. 

• Sustainable Deployment: Achieving sustainability benefits from automated transport relies on strategic deployment, necessitating aligned regulations and policy decisions. 

• Evolving Business Models: While future business models are still emerging, the transition to new transport models will profoundly impact all stakeholders. 

In closing, Isobel highlighted the opportunity Australia currently has in determining what it wants to see from connected and automated transport, the priority sectors, the problems to be solved and the industry development outcomes.  

After her presentation, Isobel engaged in a comprehensive Q&A session, moderated by Brook Hall, Executive Director of CCAT. Key takeaways from the discussion included: 

• The persistent global challenge of road safety, with both Australia and the UK experiencing plateaus in safety improvements. To address this, governments must leverage robust data to demonstrate the safety benefits of advanced technologies. This transparency is also crucial for public acceptance, ensuring rigorous safety standards across all testing phases. 

• The UK's unique regulatory approach, designed to accommodate emerging and untested technologies, emphasizing flexibility, principles-based governance, and continuous improvement through a feedback loop. 

• The UK's strategy for fostering commercialization, which focuses on de-risking and collaborative investment, particularly in passenger vehicles. For Australia, the emphasis should be on identifying and prioritizing automated transport use cases that directly address national needs and challenges across communities, the transport sector, and industry. 

In closing the event, Brook Hall invited attendees to participate in the National Future Transport Summit, a collaboration of industry and government that is being spearheaded by CCAT. The Summit will result in collectively agreed recommendations for connected and automated transport, delivering an enduring point of reference that informs government and industry decisions moving forward.

For more information on the Summit, please contact info@ccat.org.au or visit https://www.ccat.org.au/summit.  

What do you think? Leave a comment below