Driverless vehicle technology is on the radar of the New South Wales Staysafe Committee.

Scot MacDonald is the committee's deputy chair and said a new inquiry into the technology was needed, amid growing traffic congestion.

The probe will look at the capacity of autonomous cars to improve road safety and reduce the road toll.

It will also look at the state's preparedness to meet the challenges stemming from driverless vehicle technology.

Mr MacDonald said the technology was being explored globally, and the time to prepare was now.

"It has certainly got interest," he said.

"We're getting congestion on our roads, and so how do we approach that?

"Do we keep building bigger roads?

"We obviously look at our public transport, but one of the features will be sharing cars, driverless cars, smaller cars if you like, which are part of the solution."

Mr MacDonald is also Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter and said the inquiry was particularly relevant to Newcastle.

He said the city was previously mooted as a trial site for autonomous cars.

"We've got to face the facts that Google is looking at it, they're trialling it," he said.

"There are trials already underway in South Australia.

"The University of Newcastle held a conference on this back in October 2015, and they're advocating for trials in the Newcastle region, and so it has that local perspective."