Driverless Truck Fleet Gets UK Trial
Fleets of "driverless" lorries which accelerate and brake at the same time will be trialled on Britain's motorways for the first time next year, ministers have announced.
Up to three lorries will travel in automated convoys which will be controlled by a driver in the lead vehicle in a bid to cut congestion and emissions.
However, the AA has warned that the plans could pose a significant risk to motorists, highlighting the fact that the platoons will be the equivalent of half a football pitch long.
The technology has already been successfully trialled in Europe and the US, but the motoring organisation said that they are not suitable for the UK's congested motorways.
It said that they will offer little or no environmental benefit and urged the Government to invest in electric lorries instead.
Edmund King, President of the AA, said: "We have some of the busiest motorways in Europe with many more exits and entries. Platooning may work on the miles of deserted freeways in Arizona or Nevada but this is not America.
“A platoon of just three HGVs can obscure road signs from drivers in the outside lanes and potentially make access to entries or exits difficult for other drivers.
“On the new motorways, without hard shoulders, lay-bys are every 1.5 miles. A driver in trouble may encounter difficulties trying to get into a lay-by if it is blocked by a platoon of trucks going past."
The Department for Transport said that the wirelessly connected vehicles will travel closely together, with acceleration and braking controlled by the lead vehicle. It said that the lorries will drive closely together with the front vehicle pushing air out of the way, making the other vehicles more efficient and lowering their emissions.
Ministers said that a driver will be in the cab of each of the lorries controlling the steering and ready to take over full control in the event of a problem.
The Government has provided £8.1 million funding towards the trials, which will initially take place on a test track before being carried out on motorways.
Details of where the motorway trials will be conducted have not been released, but the Government has previously indicated the trials could take place on a stretch of the M6 near Carlisle. Paul Maynard, the transport minister, said: "We are investing in technology that will improve people's lives. "Advances such as lorry platooning could benefit businesses through cheaper fuel bills and other road users thanks to lower emissions and less congestion.
"But first we must make sure the technology is safe and works well on our roads, and that's why we are investing in these trials."
The trial is also funded by Highways England and will be carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory. The initial test track research will help to establish the appropriate distance between vehicles and on which roads the tests should take place.
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: "Streams of close-running HGVs could provide financial savings on long-distance journeys, but on our heavily congested motorways, with stop-start traffic and vehicles jostling for position, the benefits are less certain."
Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said the organisation understands the benefits of platooning but insisted that "safety has to come first".
Driverless Cars
Google announced that it was developing driverless cars in 2009 and began testing them on California’s roads in 2012.
In February 2016, Google said it bore “some responsibility” after one of its self-driving cars struck a bus in a minor crash.
Before that, its vehicles had driven more than one million miles without an incident that was the car’s fault, according to the company. Google has said it plans to make its cars available to the public in 2020. Other operators involved in driverless vehicles are Daimler, Ford, Tesla, Uber, Volvo and Apple.
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