Vince Cable
announces £10m fund for driverless car research and road law changes
The Guardian, Samuel Gibbs, Wednesday 30 July 2014
 |
| Self-driving cars like Google’s prototypes could be seen on UK roads in 2015. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP |
The UK is
to encourage the development of driverless cars on its roads, it was announced
on Wednesday, with a multimillion-pound research fund and a review into the
relevant laws around road safety.
The
business secretary, Vince Cable, said a £10m fund will be made available for
driverless car researchers in the UK, joint funded by the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) and the Department for Transport (DfT).
“The
excellence of our scientists and engineers has established the UK as pioneers
in the development of driverless vehicles through pilot projects,” said Cable.
“Today’s announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than
six months, putting us at the forefront of this transformational technology and
opening up new opportunities for our economy and society.”
Fully
autonomous and driver-equipped
The DfT
will also kick off a review process of the laws governing road use, including
the Highway Code and the Road Safety Act, to permit the testing of driverless
cars on public roads, Cable said while visiting the technology and engineering
company Mira in Nuneaton.
Two types
of testing will be reviewed for public roads: fully autonomous cars without a
driver, and those with a qualified driver who could take control at any time,
similar to laws in the US where driverless cars have been tested on public
roads since 2011 in some states.
The review
process will conclude in a report submitted to government by the end of 2014, a
spokesperson for DfT told the Guardian.
Research
groups to apply for government money
The £10m
fund will be governed by the UK’s innovation agency the Technology Strategy
Board.
Interested
local research institutions will be able to apply for funding by submitting a
business case paired with a local city or authority as to why driverless cars
are a viable transport solution in their area.
Three
cities across the UK will be selected to host driverless car trials from next
year, with each test to last between 18 and 36 months starting in January 2015.
The deadline for driverless car research applications will be 1 October.
The fund
was first announced by the chancellor, George Osborne, in December as part of
the national infrastructure plan.
Google’s
driverless cars hit headlines and the public consciousness in May, when the
search giant announced a brand new bespoke prototype design.
‘A big leap
of faith needed by drivers’
The UK has
various groups already working on driverless car technology, including
engineers at the University of Oxford and engineering firm Mira, which provides
autonomous vehicle technology to the military and has been testing driverless
cars on a 850 acre site in the Midlands.
“Today’s
announcement takes us closer to seeing fully autonomous vehicles on our roads
but it will take some time for them to become commonplace,” said Edmund King
president of the AA.
“Cars are
becoming more automated with the introduction of assistance systems to aid
parking; keeping a safe distance from the car in front; or lane departure
warning systems,” said David Bruce, director of AA Cars.
“However,
there is a big leap of faith needed by drivers from embracing assistance systems
to accepting the fully automated car. Two-thirds of AA members still enjoy
driving too much to want a fully automated car,” Bruce said.
‘Britain
brilliantly placed to lead the world’
“Driverless
cars have huge potential to transform the UK’s transport network – they could
improve safety, reduce congestion and lower emissions, particularly CO2,” said
the transport minister, Claire Perry, who committed to the regulatory review of
road law.
“Britain is
brilliantly placed to lead the world in driverless technology,” said the
science minister, Greg Clark. “It combines our strengths in cars, satellites,
big data and urban design; with huge potential benefits for future jobs and for
the consumer.”
Driverless
cars are expected to begin being tested on public roads in 2015, although the
DfT could not provide a timescale beyond report submission to the government by
the end of 2014.
“This
competition for funding has the potential to establish the UK as the global hub
for the development and testing of driverless vehicles in real-world urban
environments, helping to deepen our understanding of the impact on road users
and wider society,” said Iain Gray, chief executive of the Technology Strategy
Board.
“The
ability to test driverless cars at scale, when married to the UK’s unique
strengths in transport technologies and urban planning, will also attract
further investment, helping to establish new design and manufacturing supply
chains, driving forward UK economic growth,” Gray said.
Dr Geoff
Davis, chief commercial and technical officer of Mira said he welcomed the
news.
“Our 10
years of experience developing driverless car solutions with successful
applications in defence and security as well as cooperative systems in road
transport applications means we are already working on a number of projects
that explore the potential of connected and cooperative driverless cars,” Davis
said.
No comments:
Post a Comment