Transport Select Committee 2022: UK self-driving safety, testing and timescale
The Transport Select Committee inquiry into self-driving vehicles is a big deal for connected and automated mobility (CAM) in the UK, providing both scrutiny and publicity.
These committees are powerful, cross-party, and can require a response from the government. What’s more, The Transport Select Committee is one of the more high profile.
Since 2020, it has been chaired by Huw Merriman, MP for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex.
“On this Committee, we always like to look into the future of science, technology and innovation, and we’re aware that the government has plans to see self-driving vehicles operational by 2025,” he said.
Self-driving inquiry on Parliamentlive
We’ve already covered Professor Paul Newman’s contribution and, of course, we recommend watching the full session on Parliamentlive TV. Who’s got the time though? So please read-on for further highlights from the morning session on Wednesday 26 October 2022.
Here, we cover the initial remarks by Steve Gooding, chief exec of The RAC Foundation, David Wong, senior technology and innovation manager at The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), and Professor Nick Reed, founder of Reed Mobility.
Responding to the question “What is a self-driving vehicle?”, Wong explained that: “A self-driving vehicle, or automated vehicle, to use industry parlance, is a vehicle that’s fitted with an automated driving system capable of performing the entire dynamic driving tasks without human intervention within an operational design domain.”
Reed outlined the updated SAE levels 1-5, noting “They work from an engineering perspective, but they don’t work very well from a communications perspective.”
He went on to highlight the Law Commission’s useful user in charge (UIC) and no user in charge (NUIC) concepts.
Karl McCartney MP then asked about the likely timescale for owning a vehicle with automated systems.
Gooding currently runs a 2007 VW and a 2021 Triumph motorcycle, neither of which have automated features. “I’ll probably be replacing those when we are more comfortable with the electric revolution,” he said.
Reed has a VW Golf with some basic automated features like adaptive cruise control (ACC). “By 2025, it will be possible to use a vehicle that can do some of the driving for you, but I suspect it will be one that I can’t afford,” he said.
Wong highlighted the Mercedes S-Class, which meets the international UN standard for Level 3 conditionally automated driving, and is already available in the German market.
He went on to explain the differences between driver assistance and the higher levels of automation, and the critical issue of people confusing the two.
Gooding chipped in: “There is another way of describing this, which I find helpful, which is to think of it as three levels: hands off, eyes off, nod off.”
Self-driving public understanding
Merriman explained that the inquiry’s name was changed from “autonomous” to “self-driving” to help public understanding.
Changing tack, Ruth Cadbury MP questioned what transport challenges self-driving addresses which other technologies do not.
Reed identified three main areas: 1) safety, with the majority of today’s crashes having human error as a contributing factor, 2) efficiency, for example, from sharing vehicles rather than individually owning them, and 3) accessibility, for example, by making transport more accessible to people with disabilities.
Merriman then asked what testing had taught the industry, particularly in terms of potential pitfalls.
Wong highlighted the UK’s world-leading role in testing, with six CAM testbeds and more than 90 projects involving more than 200 organisations since 2014.
“The next step is to remove the safety driver altogether, whether the safety driver is inside the vehicle or remote,” he said. “Then we can progress to pilot deployment, which is what we’re seeing in the States, in California and also in Arizona. That’s the next challenge.”
Reed added: “One of key things we focus on is the public’s experience and appreciation of the technology – how this can be useful to them.”
Attention then turned to the wider societal and environmental benefits, and we’ll cover that another time soon.
