Regulating trusted autonomous systems in Australia

Australia is a leader in autonomous systems technology, particularly in the mining industry, borne from necessity in a geographically dispersed and complex natural environment. Increasingly advanced autonomous systems are becoming more prevalent in Australia, particularly as the safety, environmental and efficiency benefits become better understood, and the increasing sophistication of technology improves capability and availability. Increasing use of these systems, including in the maritime domain and air domain, is placing pressure on the national safety regulators, who must either continue to apply their traditional regulatory approach requiring exemptions to enable operation of emerging technology, or seize the opportunity to put in place an agile and adaptive approach better suited to the rapid developments of the twenty first century. In Australia the key national safety regulators have demonstrated an appetite for working with industry to facilitate innovation, but their limited resources mean progress is slow. There is a critical role to be played by third parties from industry, government, and academia who can work together to develop, test and publish new assurance and accreditation frameworks for trusted autonomous systems, and assist in the transition to an adaptive and agile regulatory philosophy. This is necessary to ensure the benefits of autonomous systems can be realised, without compromising safety. This paper will identify the growing use cases for autonomous systems in Australia, in the maritime, air and land domains, assess the current regulatory framework, argue that Australia's regulatory approach needs to become more agile and anticipatory, and investigate how third party projects could positively impact the assurance and accreditation process for autonomous systems in the future.