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

  • February 2, 2012
    European trends in environmental monitoring and enforcement
    David Crawford surveys European trends in environmental monitoring and enforcement
  • June 25, 2018
    Cost benefit analysis ‘can’t be carried out with a cookbook’
    There is far more to working out the worth of a project than simply filling in a few headings on a spreadsheet. David Crawford surveys some recent thinking from the US and Canada. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) “can’t be carried out with a cookbook”, warns US analyst Professor Robert J Brent. “ You can’t just get out a spreadsheet and fill in the data for all the headings. Each transport CBA should have something that is distinctive, in terms of location (for example, for a rural area), types of user
  • October 15, 2021
    We need to talk about AVs
    Will driverless vehicles lead to more deaths and destroy more lives than their manual counterparts? Transport writer Colin Sowman argues that they will
  • March 4, 2019
    ITS & Ethics: yes means yes
    There is an increasing wealth of information available to create personalised transport solutions – and the possibilities are exciting. But, Andrew Bunn warns, ITS companies have a duty to be explicit in explaining what people’s data is going to be used for