Government must focus on connected and autonomous technology for all sectors

Developments in connected and autonomous vehicles must focus on all sectors, not just road transport, according to a report by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee.

The report, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: The future?, sets out recommendations for the government to ensure it makes policy and investment decisions that enable the UK to receive maximum economic benefit from autonomous vehicles.

Early benefits are likely to come in sectors such as marine and agriculture therefore the government must not allow media attention around driverless cars to cause it to lose sight of the many potential benefits the technology can provide.

“Long-term developments in connected and autonomous vehicles have the potential to bring about transformational change to society but these changes will only take place if society is willing to both pay for and to adapt its behaviour to fit the technology,” said the chairman of the Committee Earl of Selborne.

The report found there is no clear central coordination of strategy or information sharing across the different sectors that could benefit from the technology, or robotics, more broadly.

It called on the government to take steps to ensure that information is shared across sectors, including the establishment of a Robotics and Autonomous Systems Leadership Council as soon as possible to play a key role in developing the strategy for the technology.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee said the government should take action with Highways England and Local Transport Authorities to engage with industry to ensure new infrastructure can be future-proofed and will not need expensive retrofitting.