Today’s announcement from the Department for Transport that passengers are one step closer to booking taxi and bus-style self-driving vehicles is so full of bullshit, it’s hard to know where to start.
I’ll forgive them the one step closer because something his actually happening:
Applications open for operators to join the self-driving vehicles pilot scheme.
Then the bullshit really gets going:
an industry that will unlock significant economic growth and support thousands of jobs
So not having drivers is increasing employment is it?
And then Mike Hawes of the SMMT weighs in:
Automated passenger services represent a market expected to be worth some £3.7 billion annually in Britain by 2040, while having the potential to widen society’s access to mobility and improve road safety.
It’s not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but is that a new market – ie more people using cars to get around – or displacing the existing non-automated passenger services?
The SMMT/KPMG report that it comes from does not state whether this is additive or displacement.
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