Comment & Analysis
This marks a very exciting time for London and the UK more generally as the GATEway trial provides the opportunity for the public to engage with the development of our future autonomous vehicles.
Last year the Institution reported on the development and importance of driverless vehicle technology though our Autonomous and driverless cars case study.
With this report we addressed the timeframes of implementation along with the benefits of the technology ultimately leading to fewer accidents. Statistics tell us that 95% of vehicle accidents are the result of human error so it makes sense to look at how we can use this new technology to help save lives.
As an engineer I want to see systems become more advanced, greener and safer. Engineers make decisions based on evidence rather than hearsay or forecasting models. So starting at this point, the data tells us that around 95% of all accidents that happen on our roads are due to human error – therefore if we reduce the number of humans operating this should mean that less accidents occur.
Estimations are that the UK economic benefit could be £51 billion a year due to fewer accidents, improved productivity and increased trade. This demonstrates why it makes sense for Government, industry and academia to redouble efforts to look at how we phase out human involvement in driving vehicles.
However, how do we make sure that the vehicles that are being produced are the ones that people want? Who is actually asking you, the customer, what you want? The engineering community has a history of often designing products that provide the best technical solution but which might not be the best fit with the customer. This is often due to them forgetting to take account of society’s needs and behaviours in the requirements capture.
This is why this trial is different as it is seeking the views of the public on what they would like from this new mode of transport in terms of its look, feel and accessibility. Addressing how comfortable they are travelling in a vehicle that ultimately will not have a driver.
It is expected that autonomous vehicles will help ease congestion and we have data that shows that through improved traffic flow, (also known as eco-routing) we can save up to 30% in weekly fuel bills. Improving traffic flow within our cities will help improve air quality. But to achieve this we need to challenge the behaviours of individuals and change how society views transport. After all, Autonomous Vehicles does not necessarily mean automatically low carbon.
Society needs to start thinking about why they are travelling, what time they are travelling, by which mode of transport they are travelling. If we all start becoming a little bit smarter about how we travel we could help to reduce bottlenecks on our transport network well before we have these fully connected vehicles on our roads.
If we truly want the UK to become a world leader of driverless vehicle technology we need to get communities on-side. Championing projects like this is a step in the right direction. We hope that this Greenwich project is the start of many more driverless trials around the UK and encourage the public to get involved.