As Google and major car manufacturers unveil their prototypes and early phase autonomous cars, these vehicles are starting to come of age for the masses.

Australia has an opportunity to be globally proactive with other nations by paving the way for this new type of road user through a new level of co-ordination between governments and technology providers.

An artist's impression of a prototype Google self-driving car. Google X is building a few hundred self-driving cars that have no steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake pedal.

The introduction of autonomous vehicles is already posing challenges along with the potential benefits. Fortunately, many of the social, economic, legal, and infrastructure issues can be likewise identified early and managed proactively.

Developing a socio-economic safety model for the introduction of autonomous vehicles in Australia helps to understand the potential of this technology and the key issues that will need to be considered and dealt with.