Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential for driverless cars to reduce motorway collisions.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport has not yet made an assessment of the potential for connected and autonomous vehicles to reduce motorway collisions. Research suggests that connected and autonomous vehicles will have a positive impact on safety – systems such as Advanced Emergency Braking are already acknowledged by some insurers to reduce collisions. However research in this area is limited by the extent of real world testing. The Government recognises the need to ensure that the implications of these technologies on safety are well-understood, and they can be introduced safely onto public roads. That is why the Department for Transport plans to conduct trials of driverless vehicles on the Strategic Road Network by the end of 2017, which will be delivered by Highways England. The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles also plans to do further research in this area, as part of a much wider programme of research and development that the Government is supporting to examine the issues associated with these technologies.