CCAT held the first-of-its-kind National Future Transport Summit in Brisbane in late 2025, which brought together a diverse range of government and industry leaders who highlighted the opportunities and challenges in implementing connected and automated technologies in transport.
These contributions, alongside open collaboration among the 170 Summit delegates representing the more than 100 organisations which made up the Summit’s consortium, reinforced the shared commitment to shaping a safe, sustainable, productive and accessible transport system for all Australians.
The delegates arrived at a set of 14 broad recommendations.
Prime Mover: How did the Summit come about?
Rahila David: The idea came from a European study tour we undertook in 2023. We saw that some countries were developing their regulations for new technologies in transport in very strategic ways, particularly in relation to automated vehicles.
It wasn’t about just accepting the technologies and making them legal, but governments were thinking about how they could get the best out of these technologies and implement them in a way that helped them meet their other goals. That was an idea that we wanted to bring back to Australia. We could see that bringing stakeholders together to have a policy discussion would be worthwhile.
We thought about whether a conference was the best mechanism, but we decided that it wasn’t just about getting people in a room to share some Power Points and listen to people talk. It was about trying to get some agreement and planning on everyone’s minds.
PM: Is coordinating regulations across various Australian jurisdictions a challenge?
RD: We can see some states which are prepared to put more money into testing and trials, and that can be very useful in terms of generating lessons within a jurisdiction.
The challenge then is bringing everyone together to share lessons across the country. Various players are needed for agreement to national law reforms, which is something Australia isn’t new to.
We’re seeing national action in a number of areas like automated vehicles and Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). What we are trying to stimulate is a national discussion around what other goals we can address with these new technologies, for example, around productivity which is on the minds of every government in Australia, and every operator as well.
There’s a real commercial incentive for the deployment of some of these technologies, but there may also be other things we can achieve such as improved productivity and sustainability outcomes for Australia if the technology is implemented in the right way.
PM: We’re already seeing automation in engine controls, transmissions and Autonomous Emergency Braking. Do you see automation as a series of progressive steps or is there still a quantum leap that needs to happen?
RD: I see there being progressive steps. The discussion often jumps to automated vehicles because they’re exciting. But we’ve got advanced vehicle technologies now like lane departure warnings and other assistance systems gradually rolling out in vehicles. That’s not to say that a company couldn’t come and declare they’re ready to deploy a fleet of autonomous vehicles as we see in the US and Europe.
We just need to remember there are other technologies closer to market, or even already in market, that we should be using and encouraging. The Summit was very deliberately focussed on all of these technologies, not just the most advanced.
PM: Where does Australia fit in?
RD: When it comes to automation, in respect of on-road vehicles we may be technology takers, and probably seen as a second or third market for manufacturers, but if you look at mining, Australia is a global leader with some of the highest numbers of automated mining vehicles in the world. Part of the benefit of the Summit was its cross-sector focus, which allowed stakeholders from all transport modes and related sectors to learn from each other about technologies which are common to them all. CCAT is built around cross-sector collaboration.
PM: What sort of likely effects on the workforce will automated commercial vehicles have?
RD: We already have driver shortage issues, and that was one of the imperatives we identified for the Summit.
There are a huge number of driving jobs that need to be filled and that will increase as the freight task increases, public transport demand increases, drivers retire and we continue to struggle to upskill and retain drivers.
What some stakeholders are saying is, in the medium term at least, jobs won’t be removed we’re not looking at removing jobs, it’s really about filling jobs or changing the nature of jobs.
You might see less drivers doing those long hub to hub routes and focussing more on driving in the communities – the first and last mile. It’s a more nuanced conversation than ‘automation is taking jobs’. It’s important to note we’re not advocating for automated vehicles full stop, we’re advocating for appropriate planning for these vehicles, and that includes planning for impacts on the workforce.
PM: In terms of connectivity have we reached a point where we can go on to something else?
RD: At CCAT we certainly focus on connected as well as automated (it’s in our title). There are plenty of companies, organisations and governments focussed on connected technologies, infrastructure and data opportunities.
I don’t think it’s something that has reached its pinnacle. We will probably see more types of connected applications come to market, potentially providing real benefits to Australians including improved safety outcomes.
PM: Across governments is there an understanding and acceptance already happening or is more education required?
RD: When it comes to regulating or deploying new technology, the education factor is important as generally industry, not government, are going to be the experts. We are seeking collaboration, and also a commitment from governments to their own research. There are states which are quite focussed on testing and deploying connected technologies, having seen evidence of the benefits.
There is a trial currently happening on bringing together a number of states looking at how the technology can deal with infrastructure and frameworks across jurisdictions.
PM: Do the governments accept they aren’t the experts?
RD: Yes, I think they do. The Summit was a good example of the type of collaboration that can be useful. There is increasing acceptance and focus on connected and automated technologies but still an opportunity for government and industry and research to work more collaboratively.
PM: What are the next steps?
RD: We’re very much now in the implementation stage. It’s wonderful that we’ve got recommendations agreed by over 120 organisations, but now the question is how do we make sure that they actually have an influence?
How do we make sure that these recommendations have an impact on public and commercial decision making?
At the moment we’re focused on having senior level government conversations to make the recommendations live. We’ve had good government collaboration to date through the Summit’s Consortium but we’re now going up the chain.
We want to see an inter-governmental conversation about this at the highest levels and we’re still focussed on maintaining the collaboration we’ve had to date through the Consortium. There has been a very positive post-Summit response to keeping that engagement going.
PM: Is there a risk that progress in regulations can get bogged down and technology moves on?
RD: The content of the recommendations is about linking technology to public goals, so we’re looking for decision makers to have a different lens when we talk about the regulatory work they are already doing.
We’re asking governments to say ‘maybe we should also be looking at how implementation can best meet our own safety, productivity and sustainability goals?’ It’s not just about regulating for safety and legality. The Summit made clear the benefits of this technology can be much broader.
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