How are increasing vehicle sizes, autonomous technology, and evolving road standards shaping the future of our streets?
Our recent webinar “Designing for the Future: Insights on the Latest Austroads Update” was co-hosted by guest speaker Malcolm Mak, Senior Transport Engineer from the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) and Saeromi Kim, Engineer-in-Training from Transoft Solutions. This session explored the 2023 updates to the Austroads design vehicles, its implications for road and intersection design, and how tools like AutoTURN Pro can help engineers adapt to emerging challenges.
Key Themes from the Webinar
- Evolving Standards with the 2023 Austroads Update
The 2023 update clarifies the distinction between design and check vehicles, provides guidance on the Performance-Based Standards (PBS) scheme to link PBS levels to their equivalent design vehicles, consolidates swept path clearance requirements, introduces a passenger car towing a trailer as a new design vehicle, and adds dual turn lane assessment to better manage mixed traffic. - Trends in Vehicle Sizes and Parking Design
Australia is experiencing a surge in larger vehicles, including SUVs, dual-cab utes, and American-style “pickup trucks.” In response, proposals have been made to increase standard parking bay lengths from 5.4 m to 5.6 m. While these longer bays will better accommodate bigger vehicles, they raise concerns about reduced overall parking capacity, the environmental impact of expanded paved areas, and equity, as only a small portion of vehicles currently exceed existing standards.
Figure 1. How supersizing cars can impact the current standard parking lot sizes demonstrated in AutoTURN Pro
- The Future with Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous vehicles have the potential to reshape road design, affecting lane widths, clearance requirements, and road geometry. They offer benefits, such as narrower lanes, tighter curve radii, and more coordinated vehicle movements. However, for the foreseeable future, roads will continue to accommodate a mix of human-driven and autonomous vehicles, requiring designs that balance both. - Dual Turn Lane Assessments
The recent update introduces dual turn lane assessment, developed by Main Roads Western Australia, to optimize lane composition. By analysing turning vehicle volume, heavy vehicle percentage, and their lane distribution, designers can determine which lane should accommodate a design heavy vehicle and whether the adjacent lane should serve a single-unit truck or passenger car, improving safety and efficiency.
Figure 2. Dual turn lanes demonstrated in AutoTURN Pro
- Considering Vulnerable Road Users and Simulation as Design Tool
Polling during the webinar indicated a strong appetite among our attendees for clearer Austroads guidance on designing for vulnerable road users, including cyclists and e-scooters.This highlights the importance of supplementary tools and non-motorised design vehicles to create safer, more inclusive infrastructure. Tools like AutoTURN Pro enable engineers to simulate real-world conditions for both motorised vehicles and emerging non-motorised modes. For bicyclists, the importance of body clearances and the need to account for bicycle lean angles and “rider boxes” are imperative when designing safe, effective infrastructure for all road users.
Figure 3. Bicycle simulation demonstrated in AutoTURN Pro
Why This Matters
The updated Austroads guide reflects how road and transport design must evolve with changing vehicle fleets, regulatory frameworks, and user needs. At the same time, vehicle simulation tools give practitioners the ability to test designs against real-world performance, identify conflicts, and make data-driven decisions. This is particularly critical as vehicles get larger, automation advances, and more vulnerable road users share our networks.
Final Takeaways
- Plan for reality, not just standards: Larger vehicles and autonomous technologies are reshaping how we design.
- Balance efficiency and equity: Adjusting infrastructure for a few vehicle types can have wider consequences.
- Don’t forget cyclists and micromobility: Infrastructure design must extend beyond cars and trucks to eliminate cyclist stress on the road network.
- Use simulation to validate decisions: Tools like AutoTURN Pro bridge the gap between design guidelines and real-world performance by allowing practictioners to test heavy vehicle movements and route assessments directly within the CAD environment.
To watch the on-demand webinar, please watch it here.
To learn more about AutoTURN Pro, please visit our product page.