Government support for first UK trials of self-driving vehicle services

People in London and Edinburgh will soon be the first in the UK to experience self-driving vehicle services as part of three new public trials announced by UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark. The projects will allow the public to ride autonomous buses on a 14-mile route across the Forth Bridge, as well as book self-driving taxis to travel around parts of London.

The projects were selected following a competitive process and will share a £25mn government grant through the fourth round of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Intelligent Mobility Fund. The will support the government’s ambition to have self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021.

The projects will include social behavioural research to further explore how driverless technology can seamlessly integrate into society, with the findings applied to the development for future autonomous service models, reported the Minister.

Future of Mobility Minister Jesse Norman commented: ‘Automated driving technology is advancing rapidly, and the UK market for connected and autonomous vehicles is forecast to be worth up to £52bn by 2035. This pioneering technology will bring significant benefits to people right across the country, improving mobility and safety, and driving growth across the UK.’

The Centre for Connected Autonomous Vehicles was established in 2015 to ensure the UK is a world-leader in the development and testing of self-driving technologies. Some £250mn, match-funded by industry, is being invested by the government, propelling self-driving technology in the UK.

To further strengthen the environment for testing and development of self-driving technologies, £18mn is also being awarded to four successful projects through the Meridian 2 and 3 competition. The Meridian 2 project will develop a digital platform to allow the exchange of data which technology developers and fleet operators can use to deliver better transport systems, while the Meridian 3 projects will focus on developing controlled test environments for highways, and public test environments for highways and rural roads.

For more on autonomous vehicles, see Petroleum Review’s November 2018 issue.