No need for safety drivers in AVs, says UK government

The UK government has signalled that it is ready to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) with no driver to be tested on public roads. It is already committed to having fully self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021. At present, operators are legally required to test AVs only when “a driver is present, in or out of the vehicle, who is ready, able, and willing to resume control of the vehicle”. But the Department for Transport (DfT)’s updated code of practice on trialling AVs on public roads - as opposed t
February 7, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The UK government has signalled that it is ready to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) with no driver to be tested on public roads.

It is already committed to having fully self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021. At present, operators are legally required to test AVs only when “a driver is present, in or out of the vehicle, who is ready, able, and willing to resume control of the vehicle”.

But the 1837 Department for Transport (DfT)’s updated %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external code of practice false https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trialling-automated-vehicle-technologies-in-public false false%> on trialling AVs on public roads -  as opposed to test tracks - makes clear that this will no longer be a requirement in some circumstances.

However, any new process will be subject to “rigorous safety assessments”.

“The government is aware of the growing desire to conduct more advanced trials on public roads,” it reads. “Such trials may currently be outside of the law and may require support and facilitation from the DfT to proceed.”

“The government is supporting the safe, transparent trialling of this pioneering technology, which could transform the way we travel,” said Jesse Norman, future of mobility minister.

The DfT has now pledged to ‘develop and operate’ a process to support advanced trials on public roads for organisations which are ready to conduct such trials. Companies should contact DfT’s Centre for Connected & AVs (C/AVs) “as far in advance as possible”.

The UK’s market for C/AVs is estimated to be worth £52 billion by 2035.

Networking & Communication Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Companies depend on automation, AI and machine learning for cyber security
    February 23, 2018
    To defend against cyber attacks, 39% of organisations are reliant on automation, 34% on machine learning and 32% on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Cisco 2018 annual report conducted on 3,600 chief information security officers. It found that over half of all attacks resulted in financial damages of more than $500,000 (£697,000), including, but not limited to, lost revenue, clients, opportunities, and out-of-pocket costs. The study revealed that adversaries are using Malware sophistication
    Read More
  • Waymo gets California green light for public driverless tests
    November 2, 2018
    Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual
    Read More
  • Xilinx releases automotive qualified Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC family
    January 16, 2018
    Xilinx has made its XA Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC family available to assist in the development of safety critical advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems. It is said to deliver the right performance/watt while integrating critical functional safety and security features and is aimed at a range of automotive platforms. The product integrates a feature-rich 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 and dual-core ARM Cortex-R5 based processing system and Xilinx programmable logic
    Read More
  • Association News on ITS
    June 20, 2016
    Association news from around the globe; Austria, Norway, Czech Republic & Slovakia associations share plans for C-ITS. ITS UK thinks countries boasting that legal autonomous vehicles will become a regular feature on their roads are straying far from the case. ITS Australia debates driverless vehicles and Eu ecall helped on its way.
    Read More

Highlighted Content