Australia well-placed to adapt to driverless car world says former US Transport Sec Rodney Slater

Australia is well positioned to adapt to the new world of driverless vehicle technology given its widespread use in the resources sector, according to former US transportation secretary Rodney Slater.

Speaking in Sydney, Bill Clinton's transport czar in the 1990s says while regulators grapple with the issues of automation, Australia is in a positin to teach the rest of the world.

"If you look at most of your mining, you already have autonomous vehicles doing a lot of that work," Mr Slater told the ABC.

"It's in a structured and limited environment but that's exactly the kind of environment we have to create for automation to be used in cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

"I think you have the kind of public leadership and the kind of dynamic corporate leadership to help Australia to not only be a player but a leader."

But Mr Slater said Australia and the world needed to look beyond comparing automation to fantasies played out on The Jetsons and Star Trek.

"Imagine your elderly parents who may have had to give up the ability to drive or someone who has a disability and can't drive can now being able to enjoy it in a way that is independent for them," Mr Slater said.

"That's really the magic of this expansion of transportation and portability that automation provides."

Mr Slater says a challenge for governments. regulators and motorists will be how traditional cars driven by humans share roads with automated vehicles.

"I think we'll get to a point where we'll have to have set routes in certain parts of certain areas you're likely to have set routes for all vehicles that will allow for greater automation."

However, Mr Slater says trust is a major factor and worried that some technology like drones could be "weaponised" and possibily exploited alluding the last week's deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas.

"But we cannot live being paralysed by fear. We cannot allow something just because it can be used for ill to not have the benefit of being used for good," Mr Slater said.

"I think both the public and private sector have a responsibility to help the public with these types of vehicles and with this new technology."

Mr Slater says 94 percent of motor vehicle accidents are caused by human error meaning automated vehicles could be important in lower the road toll.