A RECENT report published by the Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI) has claimed that up to 16,000 new jobs could be generated in Australia via a proactive approach to the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

That estimate is based on the proposition that the federal government could be persuaded to invest $2 billion per year and produce a clear roadmap for the rollout of automated vehicle technology.

According to the report’s author, ADVI executive chairman Brian Haratsis, “a coordinated industry and government-led approach is needed to mitigate the risks of rapid uncontrolled autonomous vehicle adoption from 2020 and to ensure we maximise the social, environmental and economic benefits automation can bring”.

The ADVI claims that the $2 billion per year is the average assistance rendered to car manufacturers in Australia between 1997 and 2012. It is highly probable that the government will produce a policy position and legislative guidance on driverless cars, but far less likely that Canberra will contribute much in the way of cash to the new technology.

Even so, there is clearly potential for driverless cars to restore many of the jobs that will either be lost to automation or the end of local car manufacturing. The Productivity Commission has estimated that the latter will directly cost 40,000 jobs.

What follows is an indication of where the new employment opportunities might be.

Start by looking for a job in mapping. Mapping, mapping and more mapping will be central to making driverless cars work properly. There’s a lot of technology involved in collating a modern map, especially one clever enough to help keep a driverless car on track, but the process often still involves humans dragging various sensors around.

There will need to be an intelligent map, one that knows what each lane is for, not just where it goes, covering every location a driverless car is to operate. There will be lots of jobs in mapping.

Opportunities will also arise in marketing and public affairs. Earlier this year Google ran some employment ads to boost staffing in its driverless car division. The company sought to hire an analyst to “handle our various product agendas with policy makers inside and outside government”.

Another of Google’s listings was for a marketing manager capable of “go-to-market strategy and storytelling to win hearts and minds of community members, influencers and governments”.

It’s true, some people will take a fair bit of convincing that cars without drivers are a good idea, and some governments will need a lot of help to generate coherent policies on the new technology. Just look at what a rubbish job they do on almost any other difficult issue.

Job opportunities will of course be found in developing and manufacturing the sensors, cameras and other hardware that a driverless car will use to “see” where it is.

According to the ADVI’s Mr Haratsis, “if the vehicle-to-everything communication devices Cohda Wireless currently supply to General Motors becomes industry standard, all of a sudden they will need to ramp up recruitment of high-tech manufacturing jobs”.

However, Mr Haratsis expects “about half of the jobs required will be in the design, coding and software side, so they would require a different skillset”.

Another profession will also have a significant contribution to make to the automation of cars, one that few will expect. Ethicists may need to help the engineers that program autonomous cars make a few tough decisions.

Consider an all-too-likely scenario. Amongst heavy traffic a ball bounces onto the road pursued by two running children that emerge with no notice from between parked cars. If a driverless car’s only options are to hit the children or turn hard into a light pole or parked car, likely injuring or killing the car’s passengers, what does it do? Should its computer spare the children or the passengers?

Anyone able to figure that out will certainly be worth employing.

Analysis by Daniel Cotterill