Department of Transport and Planning

Shifting the System for Safer Fleets

Mapping the ecosystem of actors shaping fleet vehicle safety technology adoption in Victoria. Five cohorts. One interconnected system.

Explore the cohorts
Five isometric layers representing the fleet safety system
The System
Everything is connected. That’s not a metaphor.
A system is a set of actors, relationships and conditions that together produce an outcome that is often one that no single actor intended or controls. We organised actors along two axes to reveal the structure.
Y Axis — Conditions

Sets conditions ↔ Operates within them

Some actors write the rules. They set policy, define standards, determine what’s mandatory. Others work within those rules, making decisions inside a system they didn’t design and can’t easily change.

X Axis — Influence

Information ↔ Money

Some actors shape decisions by changing what people know through evidence, ratings, research and guidance. Others shape decisions by changing what’s financially viable through pricing, premiums, residual values and budgets.

Ecosystem map showing 24 actors plotted across the 2x2 matrix with cohort groupings
“You cannot understand a system by breaking it into parts. The parts don’t explain the behaviour, the relationships do.”
Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems
Cohort 01
A Sets conditions through information

Knowledge Holders

They produce, hold and translate the evidence. The gap between what they know and what reaches a fleet manager’s desk is one of the most important problems in this system.

Knowledge Holders isometric illustration
🔬

System Dynamics

They define what “good” looks like. Their authority comes from evidence, standards and knowledge — not budgets or regulation. Their influence is foundational but indirect.

⚡

Characteristics & Tensions

  • Deep expertise, but limited reach to decision-makers
  • Evidence is strong, but translation to procurement criteria is weak
  • Trusted by policy, but often invisible to operators
  • Victoria’s safety strategy depends on the work of entities like ANCAP
🎯

Leverage Points

  • Bridge the gap between research outputs and procurement specifications
  • Make safety data legible and actionable for fleet managers
  • Strengthen pathways from evidence to policy to purchase

Actors in this cohort

Research Institutions NRSPP ANCAP
Cohort 02
AB Spans both quadrants

Safety & Compliance Advocates

They exist to make the case for safety through regulation, standards and internal advocacy. The motivation is there. The influence on procurement often isn’t.

Safety & Compliance Advocates isometric illustration
🛡️

System Dynamics

They write the strategy, fund the campaigns, enforce the rules, and set benchmarks. Their role is to push the system toward safety, but they often lack direct purchasing power. Their influence flows through conditions — not transactions.

⚡

Characteristics & Tensions

  • Strong mandate for safety but indirect influence on purchase decisions
  • Regulatory power exists but procurement sits elsewhere
  • WHS frameworks create duty of care but rarely specify vehicle safety tech
  • Internal advocates (WHS Officers) are motivated but under-resourced
🎯

Leverage Points

  • Connect WHS obligations directly to vehicle specification requirements
  • Align safety incentives with insurance premium structures
  • Empower internal safety champions with stronger procurement influence

Actors in this cohort

DTP RSV TAC WorkSafe Victoria Peak Bodies WHS Officers
Cohort 03
B Sets conditions through money

Price Setters

They set the financial conditions that fleet procurement happens within. They don’t choose the vehicle, but they determine whether the economics of safer vehicles stack up.

Price Setters isometric illustration
💰

System Dynamics

They write the financial rules. Their decisions about pricing, funding and policy determine what’s economically viable before anyone makes a purchase. Insurance premiums, residual values, and leasing structures all flow from here.

⚡

Characteristics & Tensions

  • Control financial viability but don’t directly specify vehicles
  • Insurance premiums could incentivise safety tech, but the connection is weak
  • The mental model needs to shift: Safety as COST → Safety as SAVING (TCO)
  • Without a total cost of ownership argument, ADAS remains “nice-to-have”
🎯

Leverage Points

  • Build the TCO case connecting insurance, claims, worker’s comp, and residuals
  • Create premium incentives for safety-equipped fleets
  • Make the financial case visible at the point of procurement decision

Actors in this cohort

Insurers Fleet Management Organisations
Cohort 04
C Operates within conditions, information side

Supply Side

They control what’s available and how it’s presented. What gets offered, how it’s packaged, and what story gets told about it all flows through here.

Supply Side isometric illustration
🏭

System Dynamics

Five actors, one supply chain. The supply side isn’t one entity — it’s a composition that shapes what vehicles and safety features are available, how they are marketed, and what information reaches the buyer.

⚡

Characteristics & Tensions

  • Vehicle manufacturers set baseline, but Australian market gets limited influence over global product decisions
  • OEM fleet sales teams are the frontline but incentivised by volume, not safety
  • Telematic providers have the data but not the mandate
  • Safety tech suppliers operate at the periphery
🎯

Leverage Points

  • Shift dealer conversations from features to safety outcomes
  • Create demand signals that manufacturers respond to
  • Link telematics data to insurance and compliance frameworks

Actors in this cohort

Vehicle Manufacturers Telematic Providers Safety Tech Suppliers Vehicle Dealers OEM Fleet Sales
Cohort 05
CD Operates within conditions

Fleet Operators

They buy and run the vehicles. Every other actor in the system is directly or indirectly shaping a decision that lands on their desk.

Fleet Operators isometric illustration
🚛

System Dynamics

The purchase happens here, shaped by financial structures set above them and information that may or may not have reached them. Fleet managers make decisions within constraints they didn’t create.

⚡

Characteristics & Tensions

  • ADAS sits in a “dead zone” — ranked 6th of 9 procurement priorities
  • Fit for purpose (1.7) dominates; ADAS features (5.7) ranked below cost
  • 81% have a procurement policy; only 2 said safety was formally part of it
  • 72% require 5-star ANCAP but don’t specify safety tech beyond this
🎯

Leverage Points

  • Safety isn’t making it from policy documents into actual procurement criteria
  • The gap is in translation to specification and purchase, not in policy
  • Look at where safety drops out of the procurement process

Actors in this cohort

Corporate Fleets SME Fleets NFP and Healthcare Government Fleets Council Fleets Retail and Rideshare CFOs / Finance Leads Novated Leasing Companies
Engagement Approach
Three threads, five cohorts
Cross-sector sessions organised around three systemic threads — not stakeholder type. Surfacing feedback loops, information failures and structural incentives.
Thread 01

Financial Architecture

The forces that determine whether the economics of safer vehicles stack up — insurance, residuals, TCO, and procurement budgets.

Thread 02

Specification & Procurement

How safety requirements translate (or fail to translate) from policy intention to purchase specification to actual vehicle on the road.

Thread 03

Evidence & Information

What people know, how they know it, and where the information gaps sit between research, advocacy, and fleet manager decision-making.