THE organisers of semi-autonomous car trials, which started in Sydney this week, have been quick to disassociate their technology from that used by Uber in a recent pedestrian fatality in the United States.

The Sydney trials, to showcase off-the-shelf technology that is available to new-car buyers, are starting one week after the death of a pedestrian in the US involving a driverless car that was being trialled by Uber in Arizona.

The organisers of the Sydney trials say the two trials are completely different.

Some media have linked the Arizona death of a pedestrian who was walking her bicycle across a multi-lane road in Phoenix to the NSW trials.

In fact, the Uber fully-autonomous car used different technology than the cars participating in Sydney.

In announcing the Sydney trial – which involves seven car-makers and will use roads around the city until October – the NSW roads minister Melinda Pavey said such vehicles will lead to the reduction in road deaths and injuries.

“We know that a majority of crashes occur due to human error,” she said in a statement. “Technology is giving us the opportunity to see real safety benefits on our roads.

“We shouldn’t be scared of the future, at the same time that accident in Phoenix (Arizona) is devastating, 100 other people die every day on the roads in the United States,” she later said in an interview with Sydney radio station 2GB.

The trial is organised by NSW’s Transurban motorway operator and car-makers BMW, Hyundai, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lexus.

The cars are available straight off the showroom floor and are not modified with any other autonomous technologies.

Lexus, for example, provided a RX350L Sports Luxury SUV that comes standard with some semi-autonomous equipment. A Lexus spokesman said the cars “are what Australians can now buy from a dealer”.

“They are not modified and have standard equipment such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance and autonomous emergency braking,” the spokesperson said.

“This trial is all about showcasing what is available to the public and how safe the new technology is to reduce accidents.”

The road route includes the Lane Cove Tunnel, the Hills M2 Motorway, Westlink M7, the M5, Eastern Distributor, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour tunnel.

Transurban said the trial will be under different conditions and at different times of the day to encompass varying ambient temperatures and weather conditions, traffic densities and daylight and night conditions.

The data will be made available to the public by the end of the year. The plan is then to conduct further tests in suburbs and country areas.

Cars in the tests have equipment including adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist and traffic sign recognition.

Legislation was passed last year to allow trials of automated vehicles in NSW. It allows for the government to work with industry, researchers and universities to create a test environment for semi-autonomous vehicles.

NSW also opened the Smart Innovation Centre that is now working on the trials.

It has also led to the extension of the Sydney Olympic Park driverless shuttle trials to the NSW town of Dubbo that will be the first regional centre in the state to trial on-demand buses.

A further eight towns have been selected for on-demand bus trials that allow residents to book transport from or near their home to a centre such as a hospital.

By Neil Dowling