The aim is to consider whether driverless road freight transport might be developed, allowed and adopted over the next two decades. There would be powerful motivations for introducing driverless trucks on a large scale, such as cost or safety.
The project seeks to develop evidence-based scenarios of how a transition to self-driving trucks could unfold and to also offer a plan to manage the disruptions to the livelihoods of affected drivers.
The final report will be published on 31 May 2017 during the International Transport Forum’s 2017 Summit of transport ministers in Leipzig, Germany.
It suggests scenarios for how the transition could happen; examines potential applications for driverless trucks; contains numbers on potential job losses; looks at the development of alternative adoption scenarios, and makes recommendations to governments how to prepare.