A motoring group is keen to see trial use of driverless cars in Adelaide, possibly as shuttles between airport terminals or to help elderly people stay connected with the wider community when they can no longer drive themselves around.

The South Australian Government said recently it was keen to update the state's road laws to legally pave the way for the driverless cars of the future, and has now said it planned to introduce legislation to State Parliament before the end of this year.

Motoring organisation RAA wants Adelaide to lead the way with technological advances on the roads such as cars which drive themselves, executive Mark Borlace said.

"Even though it's not going to happen today, within the next decade we'll start to see them on our roads," he said.

"In the next couple of decades they'll be commonplace so getting people used to it is an important beginning.

"Demonstration projects will get people used to these sorts of technologies, that is hopping into a car that will drive itself with you as a passenger."

He said there were immense possibilities as vehicle technology advanced.

"We think this type of technology will solve a whole range of mobility issues and want to see it trialled on Adelaide streets as soon as possible," he said.

The motoring group executive said the RAA hosted a workshop in Adelaide this week with interested parties from transport and manufacturing industries and State and local government.

"We wanted to bring all of these different groups together to speak with the people behind the technology and start brainstorming the solutions that self-driving cars might be able to create on our roads," he said.

"At Adelaide Airport, self-drive cars could be used to transport travellers from the long-term car park to the terminal and vice versa."

Mr Borlace also saw possibilities for the elderly to benefit from vehicles which did not require them to be behind the steering wheel.

"For older people who have given up driving, maybe a self-drive car could shuttle them from their retirement village to the local shops or community centre, so they can remain mobile and stay in touch with friends and family," he said.

"The idea of a car that drives with very little input from the driver is really confronting for some people, but once people see it in operation though it often becomes much easier to picture it in a specific situation.

"None of these [cars] will come to market unless all the risks are managed and they won't come in a rush, [there will be] a slow trickle of these on special roads or separate roads so we'll gradually get used to them over the next couple of decades."

SA Government excited by driverless car potential

South Australian Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan agreed with the RAA that driverless cars had great potential.

"They could improve safety, reduce congestion and lower emissions," he said.

"They could provide mobility solutions for people with disabilities or members of our ageing population."

Mr Mullighan said the Government planned to legislate before the end of this year to pave the way for future technological change on SA roads.

South Australian company Cohda Wireless is working on various technologies aimed at making driving safer.

Google also is working on driverless car technology. ( Google )

It is testing car-to-car electronic communication which it hopes can help avoid or reduce the severity of 80 per cent of the crashes which are not due to driver impairment.

Cohda demonstrated a driverless car to the RAA-led workshop participants, and also said it was working on warning systems for cars to let drivers take measures to avoid accidents.

Executive Paul Gray said making cars aware of others nearby could allow early danger warnings to be sent.

"Imagine you're driving down the road towards an intersection, there's another car approaching on a side road and you have the right of way but that other vehicle is travelling too fast and is not going to stop in time," he said.

"Now because of the wireless communications that's happening between the two vehicles, the system in your car knows about the presence of the other vehicle and is also aware that it's travelling too fast and is unlikely or unable to stop in time so as a result of that the system in your car can give you a warning, hopefully with plenty enough warning to allow you to take steps to avoid the accident."

Mr Borlace agreed the RAA was keen to see vehicles which interacted with roads infrastructure.

"If we get self-driving cars that are connected to the infrastructure and able to talk to each other ... the road system might send a signal into your car saying 'We know you're doing 60 kilometres per hour now [but] if you slow to 55kph you'll get the next green light'," he said.

"So what you do is you get this steadier flow of vehicles and by that you're not wasting energy and fuel and creating emissions by sitting at traffic lights idling."