Tag: self-driving

• Can AVs do it on a cold, wet night in Stoke?

  There are of course the usual platitudes and the usual spin in the Department for Transport’s (DfT) announcement of a new consultation of self-driving vehicles, but one aspect of the safety case deserves a bit of unpicking.

  Launching a consultation on a draft statement of safety principles for automated vehicles (AV)s, the DfT makes clear that the destination is clear and it’s about how we get there:

  the future rollout of self-driving vehicles across the UK moves a step closer

  consultation will ensure the technology is rolled out safely and responsibly, giving people confidence in self-driving vehicles while keeping road safety at the heart of their introduction

  

  And of course there is the usual bullshit claim about the economic case:

  the self-driving sector could create thousands of skilled jobs and help unlock billions of pounds for the economy by 2035, supporting economic growth across the UK, according to 2020 estimates

  These estimates were about the value to the economy of the self-driving sector, not the GDP uplift that it is expected to produce. Most of this value represents the displacement or restructuring of existing transport, logistics, and automotive spending.

  But how safe are AVs going to be? I came across an opinion piece in Traffic Technology Today by Professor Nick Reed of Reed Mobility, first published in the February/March edition of TTi magazine:

  When weather changes how pedestrians and cyclists behave, human drivers adapt instinctively. Professor Nick Reed asks whether automated vehicles can do the same — a question that takes on fresh relevance after Waymo this week recalled nearly 3,800 robotaxis over a software fault that allowed vehicles to drive into standing water on higher-speed roads.

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  2026.06.17

• Leading the way or way behind?

  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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  2026.05.22