Driverless cars will be on UK roads within four years, says minister

Fully driverless cars will enter the UK in three to four years, says transport secretary Chris Grayling at the Conservative Party conference in the city of Birmingham. A report by Reuters says Grayling is committed to ending the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040. “Newer diesel cars today are cleaner than ever before and of course there will be a role for diesel for many years to come as technology evolves,” Grayling adds. However, OpenText has carried out a survey of 2,000 UK consumers,
October 4, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Fully driverless cars will enter the UK in three to four years, says transport secretary Chris Grayling at the Conservative Party conference in the city of Birmingham.

 
A report by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Reuters false https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-autos-grayling/uk-will-see-truly-driverless-cars-on-roads-in-three-to-four-years-minister-idUKKCN1MB26S false false%> says Grayling is committed to ending the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040.
 
“Newer diesel cars today are cleaner than ever before and of course there will be a role for diesel for many years to come as technology evolves,” Grayling adds.
 
However, OpenText has carried out a survey of 2,000 UK consumers, in which over half of the respondents say they would never consider buying or renting a driverless car.
 
The business information company says six out ten respondents think driverless/autonomous cars will eventually outnumber manually-driven vehicles.
 
A third of participants believe there will be more driverless/autonomous cars on the road than traditional cars in the next 10-15 years. This view was held by 66% of respondents to a similar OpenText survey in 2017.
 
Also, the number of UK citizens comfortable with being a passenger in a driverless car has dropped from 24% in 2017 to 19% in this year's results.
 
Just under a quarter of participants believe autonomous vehicles (AV) will improve road safety compared to 42% of consumers who responded in 2017.
 
One in ten participants think the technology will make roads safer on UK motorways, the company adds.  
 
Mark Bridger, senior vice president, Europe, OpenText, says the more ‘game-changing’ artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as AVs will take longer to be accepted.
 
“AI will enable automakers to analyse, adapt, and suggest solutions based on data. As AVs become more common, the data they produce will become a new, powerful asset for organisations,” Bridger adds.
 
Automotive companies need to ensure the technology is safe and reliable in order to install the necessary level of trust for mass adoption, he concludes.

Related Content

  • TISPOL welcomes EC measures to reduce road deaths
    May 23, 2018
    TISPOL has welcomed a package of measures announced by the European Commission (EC) to help reduce the 25,000 deaths that occur on EU roads annually. Ruth Purdie, general secretary of TISPOL, says: “Today’s announcements could represent the biggest step forward in road safety in Europe since the introduction of the seat belt." Antonio Avenoso of the European Transport Safety Council said the EC’s announcements require backing from EU member states and the European Parliament. They should not give in to
    Read More
  • Japan to equip 5G base stations on traffic lights
    June 24, 2019
    The Government of Japan is to install 5G wireless communications base stations on traffic signals nationwide by 2025. A report by The Japan News says the project is expected to reduce costs for telecommunications service providers. As part of the project, traffic signals will be equipped with devices to measure the amount of traffic. The information sent from the stations to the vehicles is expected to support autonomous driving. Japan is not the only company looking to harness the potential of 5G. In F
    Read More
  • Mobike e-fences prevent cyclists from illegal parking in Shanghai
    June 28, 2018
    Mobike has partnered with police in Shanghai to implement electronic ‘fences’ that prevent cyclists from parking around People’s Square in Lujiazui and other prohibited areas. The bike sharing company’s new app feature flags these locations up in grey to alert riders. Cyclists who try to park in these areas receive a text alert and an alarm and will lose Mobike points and their app credit rating will drop. Those who continually offend will be banned from using the service. Users can locate recommended pa
    Read More
  • Kolumbus to operate autonomous bus service in Norway
    July 3, 2018
    Norwegian public transport operator Kolumbus is now operating an autonomous bus service outside the city of Stavanger to provide commuters with easier access to mass transit. The vehicles run between existing bus stops and office buildings in the Frosu area. According to a report by ZDNet, the Norwegian ministry of transport’s licence requires a Kolumbus employee to be on board the Easy Mile EZ10 vehicle and ready to intervene if a dangerous situation takes place. The ministry has also set a maximum
    Read More

Highlighted Content