UK ITS professionals doubt driverless car timescales

Only one member of ITS (UK) thinks that level five driverless cars will be on the country’s roads by 2021, as suggested by chancellor Philip Hammond in the autumn budget. The results showed a near 50/50 split between those who expect fully driverless cars to be available within 15 years and those who think it will take longer to become widespread.
February 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Only one member of ITS (UK) thinks that level five driverless cars will be on the country’s roads by 2021, as suggested by chancellor Philip Hammond in the autumn budget. The results showed a near 50/50 split between those who expect fully driverless cars to be available within 15 years and those who think it will take longer to become widespread.

Findings also revealed that half of the respondents think that driverless vehicle publicity was hampering public awareness of existing automatic driver assistance systems such as automatic braking and lane departure warnings which are available but generally only on certain higher-level models. It was suggested that the right solution is to focus on the stepping stones to autonomy that deliver benefits now. Only a quarter of members said they thought this was not an issue.

In addition, concerns were raised on the public’s willingness to let go of driving cars, and that while the vehicles may be ready, the road network will not be able to support them. Others think that regulations on insurance and liability will hamper the implementation. However, more believe that some vehicles could drive on dedicated roads or motorway lanes much sooner.

Jennie Martin, ITS (UK) general secretary, said: “Our survey suggests that even among those who work on transport technology day in day out there are clear differences of opinion on timescales and benefits of autonomous vehicles. However, understanding that there may be a problem is the first step to solving it, and we are ideally placed to bring our combined thousands of years of knowledge and experience to help shape the future of our transport system to ensure that it is safe, efficient and fit for purpose.”

Related Content

  • Europe’s road safety record suffers as austerity bites hard, say traffic police chiefs
    March 7, 2018
    Europe’s leading traffic police chiefs are struggling with the challenge of how best to manage the region’s road network in an era of austerity. Things are changing fast, and not for the better, reports Geoff Hadwick. Europe’s road safety record is under threat. Police budgets are being slashed, staff numbers are falling and a long-term trend towards ever-fewer road deaths has ground to a halt. The line on the graph has flat-lined. Does Europe’s road network face a far more dangerous future? Lower and
    Read More
  • ITS UK: freight experts call for technology to support deliveries
    March 5, 2018
    Members of ITS (UK)’s Freight Interest Group have raised concerns that relying on autonomous vehicles and platooning to provide future solutions may be diverting attention away from current technology which could help in the short-to-medium-term, at the Industry 4.0 Summit in Manchester. The group suggested that logistics efficiency could be improved by better communication with light goods vehicle drivers. Additionally, signal timing technology could decrease the number of stops that Heavy Goods Vehicles
    Read More
  • Venkat Sumantran: ‘Smart cities are more hype than reality’
    November 23, 2018
    For all the talk of smart cities, investment in systems lags significantly behind organic expansion in most places. Andrew Stone talks to Venkat Sumantran, who has been looking at how to create a coherent framework which could help authorities answer multiple mobility questions Two megatrends are posing unprecedented challenges to those trying to keep people moving around the world’s urban areas now - and in the years and decades to come. The first is rapid urbanisation. One in six of us lived in urban a
    Read More
  • Transformation of UK transport ‘has hardly begun’
    November 13, 2015
    As the Highways UK event approaches on 25-26 November, Jennie Martin, secretary general of ITS United Kingdom, believes the technological transformation of transport in the UK has hardly begun. She says, “The changes that are coming are going to affect everyone. We are going to be answering questions most people haven’t even thought to ask. In ITS, the UK is ahead of the game, but the game is changing. It’s an incredibly exciting time.’”
    Read More

Highlighted Content