Skip to main content

Zenzic identifies ‘golden threads’ to accelerate AV roll-out

A UK organisation has identified 500 ‘milestones’ to be passed in order to get connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) on the road in numbers by 2030. Zenzic, which was set up by government and industry to coordinate a national platform for testing and developing C/AVs, has launched the UK Connected and Automated Mobility Roadmap to 2030. It identifies six ‘golden threads’ which highlight areas dependent on cross-industry collaboration to make self-driving services accessible to the public by the end of
September 12, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

A UK organisation has identified 500 ‘milestones’ to be passed in order to get connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) on the road in numbers by 2030.

Zenzic, which was set up by government and industry to coordinate a national platform for testing and developing C/AVs, has launched the UK Connected and Automated Mobility %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Roadmap false https://zenzic.io/roadmap/ false false%> to 2030.

It identifies six ‘golden threads’ which highlight areas dependent on cross-industry collaboration to make self-driving services accessible to the public by the end of the next decade.

Top of the list is cyber resilience, with Zenzic suggesting that one major goal must be “to focus on resilience in the event of a cyber failure or threat rather than trying to build an unbreakable system”.

Legislation and regulation, public acceptability, infrastructure and safety – including the sharing of safety critical data vehicle-to-vehicle – are among the other key areas it identifies. Many of these are inter-dependent, such as the clear link between AV safety and whether people are going to be confident about using them.

“Societal outcomes must be at the centre of our planning,” Zenzic says. “To date, a vehicle-centric focus has been adopted to progress self-driving technology.” Instead, the focus should be on “thinking today about how technology and services will benefit society at large in 2030”.

The document goes through what is required in four main sections - society and people, vehicles, infrastructure and services – and in particular highlights the role of cybersecurity, saying that the UK is “at the forefront” of this technology, on which “half of the roadmap” depends.

Collaboration is the key, the roadmap insists: “If all the activity in the roadmap was scheduled sequentially with no parallel efforts, it would take until 2079 for the UK to benefit from self-driving vehicles on the roads.”

To speed things up, there must be cooperation between industry, academia and government in the UK. The document suggests 2025 will mark the ‘tipping point’ when the UK “switches gears from trial and development of the technology to the scaling up of its deployment”.

Thereafter, “advances in vehicle licencing, vehicle insurance and a tidal change in desirability in the public eye” means that more commercial passenger services will emerge.

Related Content

  • October 30, 2017
    Highways England launches initiatives to drive down motorway and major road incidents
    To slash road causalities by 40% by 2020 and combat last year’s 8 tyre-related fatalities and 120 serious injuries, Highways England (HE) has revealed a series of initiatives to mark the end of the Tyre Safety month. Working with the NHS and tyre manufactures, HE is helping family drivers, commuters and commercial drivers keep tyres in top condition. Some of these plans are already being delivered.
  • September 24, 2018
    UK well positioned to benefit from autonomous lorries, says Inrix
    Driver shortage, commercially-viable roads and Brexit uncertainty position the UK to develop and benefit from autonomous freighting, says Inrix. The analytics company's latest report has identified the A1 from Sheffield to Edinburgh as the most suitable corridor for testing highly automated vehicles (HAV). The Inrix Automated Freight Corridor Assessment reveals the next best-suited corridor is the M5/A38 from Plymouth to Birmingham, followed by the M4 from Swindon to Swansea.
  • October 19, 2012
    Call for entries for 2013 best of ITS awards
    The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) will recognise member organisations that have produced the most innovative products and services in the intelligent transportation systems industry during the 2013 Best of ITS Awards at the 23rd Annual Meeting & Exposition in Nashville Tennessee. ITS America Members, including private sector companies, research institutions and public agencies can submit entries for the highly competitive program until 25 January 2013. ITS America will award wi
  • April 8, 2014
    France’s railways roll out B2B web portal
    A new English-language web portal, www.French-rail-industry.com has been launched to promote France’s railways expertise to potential customers. The web portal aims to raise awareness among industry professionals worldwide of the know-how prevalent in France’s railway sector with sections devoted to the latest international company news and events such as Innotrans, which will take place in Berlin from 23 to 26 September 2014. The website will also help to establish connections between international