Report: Managing the transition to driverless road freight transport

The International Transport Forum, in partnership with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) is working on a project which examines the impact of driverless trucks. It focuses on developments in Europe and North America, with some evidence drawn from other continents, such as automated trains and mining equipment in Australia. The aim is to consider whether driverless road freight trans
May 16, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The 998 International Transport Forum, in partnership with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (6175 ACEA) is working on a project which examines the impact of driverless trucks. It focuses on developments in Europe and North America, with some evidence drawn from other continents, such as automated trains and mining equipment in Australia.


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.

Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • July 31, 2014
    Putting transport on the Latin American investment agenda
    International Transport forum (ITF) Secretary-General José Viegas brought a transport perspective to the OECD's 4th Conference on Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean in Lima, Peru on 7-8 July. Themed "Bridging infrastructure gaps through smart investment", the event, co-organised by the OECD, the government of Peru and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), explored the needs and opportunities for investment in the region, with a view to maximising economic and development benefits generat
    Read More
  • April 2, 2021
    Transit takes on demanding role
    Community transport - or paratransit - has historically formed the basis of demand-responsive operations. But with new routing technologies, David Crawford sees wider potential
    Read More
  • April 8, 2014
    German authorities use CB-radio message to reduce accidents in roadworks
    Citizen Band radio is proving useful to prevent accidents in Germany’s roadworks. In common with other German Länder (federal regions) with large volumes of commercial vehicles using their trunk road networks, Bavaria had been experiencing high levels of road traffic accidents (RTAs) involving heavy trucks in the vicinity of minor motorway maintenance sites. This was despite the extensive visual warning regulations published in the German federal road safety audit (RSA) guidelines for the protection of site
    Read More
  • March 17, 2016
    Inland waterways can de-stress city roads
    David Crawford looks at an under-utilised solution for city-centre deliveries. The use of rivers and canals for moving freight is a well-established mode in North Western Europe, where it can take advantage of an intensively developed network. In the Netherlands, 40% of the total volume of goods transported internally goes by water; the figure for Flanders (the neighbouring Dutch-speaking region of Belgium) is 11.5%.
    Read More

Highlighted Content