(^4) ABC October 2017 busnews.com.au
AT THE HELM RANDALL JOHNSTON
Out with the old
I
ndeed, state governments seem
very keen to embrace trials of
automated vehicles and these trials
are taking place in just about every
state and territory in 2017.
Still we are a long way off having a
regulatory framework in place that
will allow for the safe operation of
driverless buses on our roads.
Euro 7 won’t exist; we are likely to
skip straight to electric zero
emissions technology in the
years ahead. I was more than a
little surprised to see that French
driverless vehicle company Navya
will establish an Asia-Pacific
manufacturing facility in Adelaide
after reaching an agreement with the
South Australian Government.
Navya says it is attracted by South
Australia’s carbon-neutral and
renewable energy focus. The French
¾ rm currently has manufacturing
operations in Lyon, France and
Detroit, Michigan.
A plant in Adelaide will secure
operations in Europe, the Americas
and Asia-Paci¾ c.
Navya’s ARMA shuttles are
electric, 100 per cent driverless and
can carry up to 15 people.
Most auto manufacturers and new
entrants will have driverless car
models on the roads by 2020 and
a report by Intel forecasts the
autonomous vehicle industry will be
worth US$7 trillion by 2050; of which
47 per cent is expected to be focused
within the Asia-Paci¾ c region.
Less than a week after this news
broke, what do you know ... Ohmio
Automotion will start manufacturing
self-driving vehicles in New Zealand!
The vehicles will range in size from
small to large shuttles and freight
pods and customisable vehicles.
A range of four Ohmio models is
planned for production before 2019.
So how did we suddenly go from a
region where it’s by all account too
It is interesting that automated vehicle
manufacturers are looking to set up manufacturing
facilities in Australia, especially as traditional vehicle
factories disappear, writesRandall Johnston
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expensive to manufacture anything
here and be globally competitive, to
the economic jewel of the Paci¾ c?
Beats me, but it is good PR for these
forward thinking pollies and
hopefully will lead to future jobs for
bus industry heads down the track.
But there’s plenty more going on in
October! Proterra’s Catalyst E2 Max
electric bus was driven for more than
1773 kilometres, setting a new world
record for distance travelled in an
electric vehicle on a single charge in
the United States last month (p15).
We visit the Volgren factory in
Perth to see what’s coming off the
production line in 2017-2018 and
how the organisation is adapting to a
rapidly changing market (p24).
ABC also sits down with the crew at
Melbourne-based Dyson Group of
Companies. Given the purchase of
several smaller operators in regional
Victoria, it has been a busy year for
them (p30).
The hard work is paying off for
Marshall’s Bus and Coach after
recent Custom Bus additions to its
¿ eet. Earlier this year the regional
NSW operator took delivery of 12
new SB50 buses built by Custom Bus
Australia for its school bus ¿ eet, so
we take one for a spin (p38).
Ten Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
Transfer Minibuses will be used as
part of an on-demand public transport
trial in New South Wales (p44).
ABC partnered with this year’s
Australasia Bus & Coach Expo
organisers and hosts Queensland Bus
Industry Council (QBIC) on the Gold
Coast. There was a tonne of new
products and services on show at
the expo (p20).
Didn’t make it to the show? It
was a mad rush even to get a
photo spread from the expo into
this edition, so we will bring you
continued coverage in the next
edition of ABCmagazine.
singke
(singke)
#1