FLEETDRIVE
TAS
SA
WA
A South Hobart family have become
one of the first customers of a new
Tasmanian business, the Good Car
Company, which sells second-hand
electric cars. Consumers enthusiasm to adopt
automated cars was the focus of
research being presented at the
Australasian Road Safety Conference
late last month The Constable Care Child Safety
Foundation (CCCSF) has been
Highly Commended as a finalist in
the 3M-ACRS Diamond Road Safety
Awards.
Stuart Barry said they calculated they
had spent $45,000 on petrol in the past
decade, so decided to spend $31,000
on a used electric car because they
could charge it for free from their solar
panels and it would pay for itself within
seven years. Associate professor, Ioni Lewis from
Queensland University of Technology’s
(QUT) Centre for Accident Research
and Road Safety-Queensland
(CRRS-Q) has found that attitudes
towards Level 4 automated cars differ
between countries. The CCCSF was recognised for the
innovative road safety app Arility that
was developed using a $100,000 Road
Safety Community Grant funded by the
Road Trauma Trust Account, to improve
road safety for regional and remote
students.
“Once we got to the stage where we
realised we no longer needed a people
mover, getting an affordable electric
car seemed like a no brainer,” Mr Barry
said. “France has been trialling automated
cars for several years and is a world
leader, so we think this increased level
of community exposure to these cars
may have contributed to the differences
in intentions found between the
countries,” said Lewis. The Arility app enables students aged
four to 11 to interact with augmented
characters in six road safety situations,
as pedestrians, as bike riders and while
using public transport.
They replaced their old seven-seater
with the e-car two weeks ago. The
2016 model 30kWh Nissan Leaf cost
the family $31,000 and has a 170km
range. The car retails new for about
$55,000.
Co-founder of the Good Car Company
Anton Vikstrom said they decided to
import used electric cars to make them
more affordable.
“The expensive entry point for buying
electric cars is stopping Tasmanians
from transitioning to electric cars. We
solve that problem by offering high-
quality, second-hand electric cars,
so that people no longer have to wait
before they decarbonise their drive.”
Lewis and her team, spread between
Australia, Sweden, and France, also
looked into why people were more or
less likely to feel comfortable about
purchasing an autonomous vehicle.
“In France and Sweden, people’s
‘attitude’ (their emotions and beliefs)
toward these vehicles was the biggest
predictor but in Australia it was
‘performance expectancy’, which
reflected how much they thought a
highly automated vehicle would actually
assist them,” said Lewis.
“We’re thrilled to receive this award,”
said Constable Care Child Safety
Foundation CEO David Gribble.
“Arility has been two years in the
making and we couldn’t have done it
without initial funding from the Road
Safety Commission here in WA.”
Minister for Road Safety Michelle
Roberts, who launched the Arility app
last year, congratulated all involved in
the outstanding project.
“This award is well deserved and
recognition of the careful and patient
work taken to develop what is a quality
product, widely available to students
across Western Australia,” said Mrs
Roberts.
ISSUE 19 2019 / WWW.AFMA.ORG.AU
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