Skip to main content

Government must broaden focus on CAV, says House of Lords

A new report by the UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee says the government should broaden its focus so work on connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) benefits all sectors and not just road vehicles. The report, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: The future? also states: While we cannot say with any certainty what the impact on congestion will be, it is possible to imagine a situation of total gridlock as CAV crawl around city centres. It is important the right policy decisions relating to C
March 15, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
A new report by the UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee says the government should broaden its focus so work on connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) benefits all sectors and not just road vehicles.

The report, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: The future? also states: While we cannot say with any certainty what the impact on congestion will be, it is possible to imagine a situation of total gridlock as CAV crawl around city centres. It is important the right policy decisions relating to CAV are made in order to reduce the likelihood of this occurring.

It also found the main social, behavioural and ethical questions relating to autonomous cars remain largely unanswered.

The report notes that, as automotive manufacturers and new entrants carry out their own research and development for fully automated cars, the Government should not invest heavily or lead in this area but should continue to invest in the fundamental scientific research that underpins CAV.

Related Content

  • June 17, 2022
    Building Europe’s roads for driverless age
    Creating smart, co-operative road transport systems that harness the white heat of technology won’t be easy but a new document shows the way – Andrew Stone does some reading…
  • January 10, 2013
    Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort
  • November 28, 2013
    Roadside infrastructure key to in-vehicle deployment
    The implementation of in-vehicle systems will require multilateral cooperation, as Honda’s Sue Bai explains to Colin Sowman. Vehicle manufacturers will shape the future direction of in-vehicle ITS systems, but they can’t do it on their own. So to find out what they see on the horizon, and the obstacles they face, ITS International spoke to Sue Bai, principal engineer in the Automobile Technology Research Department with Honda R&D Americas. Not only does she play an important role in Honda’s US-based ITS
  • May 5, 2016
    ITS innovations – a change for the better?
    Josef Czako takes a look at what the future developments may hold for both the transport sector and society. As the dust of the 2015 World Congress in Bordeaux settles, we can begin to see more clearly some of the most important future innovations in ITS are starting to be linked together: mobility as a service (MaaS), mobility pricing and autonomous vehicles. They all are based on global trends, like digitalisation, automation and servitisation.