Yvonne Burton was just a child when Australia's first mass-produced car, the FX Holden, came onto the market.

Now, she's sitting at a purpose-made bus stop in her retirement village, waiting for her lift — an automated vehicle (AV) — to take her to her weekly art class.

The retirement village where Ms Burton lives in Toormina, just outside of Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast, is trialling some of the latest driverless technology the world has to offer.

"I think we've been very lucky to have this experience," she said.

The electric AV, nicknamed the BusBot, is similar to a mini-bus but with six inward facing seats and no steering wheel.

The trial is taking place in a Coffs Harbour retirement village. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

As it comes to a stop in front of her, Ms Burton gathers her art supplies and the painting she's working on and steps on.

"Things are going to be happening, you know the advancements are happening whether we want it or not," she said.

"I love it. I have no trouble with it at all. But, I'm not exactly 'older'; we have a lot of people here in their 90s. Some of them are adventurous, but the non-adventurous ones just need a little encouragement.

"To me, all these things smack of Buck Rogers!

"We've suddenly got something that's really out there in little Toormina. It's very exciting."

Yvonne said the BusBot trial was a little like science fiction. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

Fellow resident, 93-year-old Betty Fleming also uses the on-demand AV to get around the village.

She uses it to get to her weekly ukulele lesson and for other social events happening at the village's main hall.

"It's really great. I live quite a distance — well, for older people — so it's very handy to take your instruments," Ms Fleming said.

And she said she didn't think twice before stepping onto the vehicle.

"Oh, I thought it was rather cute!" Ms Fleming said laughing.

"It's a funny feeling just to sit there and the thing starts to move.

Human touch still needed in a world of robots

There are five levels of AVs. At level one, you have driver assist inputs like cruise control, but you drive the vehicle. At level five — which is yet to be developed commercially — the vehicle completely drives itself.

As an example, Teslas are mostly level two or three, and the AV being used in Toormina is level four.

At this stage, the AV in Toormina still has an onboard attendant.

The BusBot might be high-tech, but it can still be overtaken by a motorised scooter. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

It is their job to override the robotics using a touch screen when the vehicle cannot decide what action it should take.

"Of course, when they first started, they were learning how to drive it, learning what to do, what buttons to press because they were doing it all themselves and it was very entertaining as far as we were concerned," Ms Fleming said.

Kevin Parker is one of those attendants.

The former bus driver said his past career meant he had the analytical skills needed for the job.

"We're just a senior attendant on a bus to make sure everything goes right as it's a trial period," Mr Parker said.

"If there's a car in the way [and] the bus can't decide to go around it, that's our decision. Then we get the manual device and drive around the car."

The trial has already shown where improvements needed to be made to be more accommodating of older people and those who have limited mobility.

As a result, tweaks have been made to the AV, including the addition of a mechanical ramp. However, it has also shown a need for a human onboard.

AV tech helps older Australians stay mobile

Keith Francis is part of the retirement village's residents' committee and thinks the AV is especially useful for encouraging older people to get out and about more.

Life with BusBot in Coffs Harbour. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

Residents are encouraged to order the AV through a smartphone app, though that is proving problematic because some residents are not frequent mobile users.

So, residents are also able to book the AV online, or by calling and requesting it to turn up to one of several custom-made bus stops stationed around the retirement village.

"It's terrific for the older people who no longer have cars," Mr Francis said.

"They can just ring up, or if they're computer literate, they can use a computer in order to pick them up and take them to the catering hall or anything that's going on with the whole place."

Mr Francis said the trial is a way for older generations, who may not be so tech-savvy, to play a role in the development of new technology.

This specific trial is being run for the NSW Government, with others happening around the country, and all with a different focus.

The results from these trials are being fed back to experts who are preparing Australia for a future of vehicle automation.

Betty Fleming books the BusBot to get to her ukulele lessons. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

What is the future of AVs in Australia?

Australia no longer manufactures cars, which means regulators here need to work closely with developers and retailers overseas to ensure we are not left behind when it comes to automotive innovation.

They also need to ensure AVs are fit for Australian road conditions.

"If we want to bring the technology here, we need to make sure that those international players can look at Australia and understand how to do business and how it's going to work," Evan Walker, director of the Smart Innovation Centre with Transport for NSW, said.

"Australia's got a lot of automated mines, so we're really advanced when it comes to automated tech. So, our real role is how we integrate that into our transport network and provide the outcome we're all looking for."

He said he hoped to see the first fully automated vehicles on open Australian roads by the mid-2020s, most likely in the form of public transport, rideshare and freight transport.

Mr Walker said he thought it was important for each state and territory to run its own studies to see how AV technology worked in each jurisdiction.

That information will help to connect all the individual networks to a national grid.

How does Australia compare?

A recent KPMG report placed Australia in 15th spot for global preparedness for automated vehicles.

The report noted Australia was in a strong position when it came to preparing the regulations needed to support AVs, but more would need to be done to brace domestic energy policy and road pricing against shifting demands.

Marcus Burke, the director of AVs at the National Transport Commission, has helped to develop the regulatory framework to support AVs here, which will be rolled out over the next two years.

"We initially looked at what the barriers were to these vehicles running on our roads, and we looked across existing legislation and found over 700 barriers in different state, territory and federal laws," Mr Burke said.

The BusBot shares the road and must stick to speed limits. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )

He's now working through those issues, with a focus on nationally consistent policies when it comes to vehicle safety, insurance, and data and privacy protections for when the vehicle is in use, and being serviced.

In Australia, manufacturers will need to demonstrate they can operate the vehicle safely in Australian conditions before their AVs are allowed to be sold here.

"Companies will need to demonstrate evidence against a range of safety criteria, which includes that they are managing the cyber-security risks, the interaction with other road users, that the technology is suited to the Australian road environment, and that they're providing appropriate training and education to users of the technology," Mr Burke said.

Some companies have predicted it may take three to five years for high-level AV technology to come to fruition commercially.

However, Mr Burke said there was speculation on whether that was a realistic timeframe.

"In California, the metric that is used for trials is around disengagement," he said.

"So, how frequently a vehicle actually hands back control to a safety driver. The top companies now are only reporting one disengagement every 11,000 miles (17,702km), which doesn't mean they've solved all the issues yet, but I do think it is an illustration of how much they have improved over recent years."

For now, the vehicles cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each, putting them out of the reach of most people.

However, as technology improves, automated vehicles will become more relevant and more prevalent.