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

  • June 5, 2018
    A third of Brits willing to pay more to purchase electric cars
    Over a third of the British public would be willing to pay more for a fully electric car than a petrol or diesel vehicle, said Baringa Partners. However, the business consultancy’s latest report also highlighted 35% of respondents think these vehicles are worse value for money. Called Is the UK ready for electric cars?, the document revealed 68% of respondents are willing to pay more for an electric car for its environmental benefits. Meanwhile, nearly half based their decision on the belief that electri
    Read More
  • February 6, 2019
    2019 ‘won’t be the year of blockchain’, says Fujitsu
    Blockchain technology will not break through into the mainstream of the British transportation sector during 2019, according to Fujitsu. Blockchain has been touted as the solution to a number of transportation issues, but Chris Patton from Fujitsu’s EMEIA transport team urges caution. While acknowledging that the technology holds ‘exciting’ operational and commercial potential for the public transport sector, he says: “The key word there, though, is potential. While it is undeniable blockchain will ma
    Read More
  • October 30, 2018
    Maven expands peer-to-peer car-share service
    General Motors’ subsidiary Maven is expanding its peer-to-peer car-share option to more US cities. The service – which sees owners renting out their vehicles - is currently available in four urban areas: Ann Arbor, Chicago, Denver and Detroit. But GM says it will now be rolled out in Baltimore, Boston, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC by the end of the year. Owners can rent out their GM car, so long as it is registered in 2015 or later, with Maven taking 40% of each rental. Despi
    Read More
  • October 9, 2017
    Over half Victorian motorists no longer consider petrol combustion engines in next purchase, Australia
    More than half of the 15, 047 Victorian motorists who participated in EastLink’s first annual self-driving vehicle survey are no longer considering a traditional petrol combustion engine for their next car purchase. The findings come as toll route operator announced the overall results from the survey. EastLink’s survey, with the support from the Australian Road Research Board, was conducted online over a 4-week period for motorists between 11 September and 8 October.
    Read More

Highlighted Content