Driverless cars may not only save lives, they could also help save South Australia's flailing manufacturing industry.
Premier Jay Weatherill wants SA to be an advanced manufacturing state and a world leader in self-driving cars, which he says will become a $90 billion global industry within 15 years.
He believes the state's automotive expertise, obtained through decades of producing Holden and Mitsubishi cars, will position the state to achieve this vision.
"Cars are integral to the state's DNA, our history and identity," Mr Weatherill said as he opened the International Driverless Cars conference in Adelaide on Thursday.
"The Holden production plant will soon close its doors in Elizabeth.
"But (that doesn't) mean we've lost our expertise, our capability or our appetite to be a player in the car industry.
"We see our history as a foundation on which we can be involved in the technology, testing, perhaps even the manufacturing again of driverless cars."
But Mr Weatherill said it would be a different kind of manufacturing - one that is viable in a high-wage economy like Australia.
"It won't be large run, high volume, low value manufacturing," he said.
"It'll be small, niche operations that give us the opportunity to use our skills and talents."
The driverless cars conference will look at technological and infrastructure needs and opportunities as well as social and ethical issues associated with driverless vehicles.
As part of the event, a driverless car will be tested on Adelaide's South Expressway this weekend in the southern hemisphere's first on-road trial.
Self-driving cars, buses and trucks have the potential to significantly cut down collisions, improve congestion and reduce freight costs.
A Senate inquiry last month heard that more than 90 per cent of crashes and consequent deaths and injuries on the roads were the result of human error, which autonomous vehicles can largely eliminate.
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