Rough seas make stronger sailors: Former Zenzic CEO Ruiz on navigating peak self-driving hype
Non-executive director at the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), and reviewer of major projects for the Cabinet Office, Oxbridge engineering graduate Dr Daniel Ruiz has had a stellar 40-year career in public transport.
He was previously head of real-time operations at Transport for London (TfL), notably set up the Transport Coordination Centre for the 2012 Olympics, founded the Transport Technology Forum (TTF), and was head of Zenzic, tasked with accelerating self-driving in the UK.
We started by asking him about the hype surrounding self-driving cars…
DR: “Hype can be the enemy of progress. I think in connected and autonomous mobility (CAM), it’s certainly the case that hype held things back. People became interested in just driverless cars, and that narrow interest resulted in a focus on the wrong things – not the best outcomes for society, the economy or the environment.
“Robotaxis have long been the sex symbol of the autonomous vehicle parc, but they’re not necessarily going to make the biggest, or soonest, impact. There’s an emerging realisation that there are greater opportunities in autonomous freight.
“This is partly because freight doesn’t complain about how fast it goes around corners. It’s also because of the many off-highway opportunities for freight movements. This enables you to prove safety and efficacy.”
How do self-driving cars fit into the future of transport?
DR: “You can easily conclude that driverless technology is expensive, therefore it will only be for multimillionaires. The reality is that much of the technology has been proven on buses and low speed shuttles – public transport services. These are going to proliferate much faster than private autonomous vehicles, not least because the regulations still need to be established.
“The driverless car that sits in your own garage is a bit of a distraction because it reflects the current transport paradigm – take one thing out, a driven car, and put something else in, a driverless car. It implies that everything else remains the same.
“We need to be thinking in more dimensions about what we want in terms of mobility. To deliver the ultimate transport system you need to satisfy the collective requirements of society. There’s not enough looking forwards, then working back.
“Michael Hurwitz, formally Director of Transport Innovation at TfL, often draws attention to the fact that, until recently, there were very few modes of transport. Now there’s electric scooters and bikes, hire schemes, ride sharing and more.
“We need to put less emphasis on the mode and think more in terms of getting from A to B in the most efficient and comfortable way. Maybe you’d be happy to walk to a scooter station, get that to the train, then pick up a cab. It’s the dwell times that inject frustration and inefficiency; that lead many to say: “It’s too complicated, I’m going to jump in the car”.
“Autonomous vehicles are part of the equation, but the C in CAM, ‘connectivity’, is also vital. The Internet of Transport (IoT) is probably the most important thing to be considering right now. How do we make sure that data and knowledge are flowing safely, securely, anonymously? Then there’s the financial side – how do you charge for stuff?
“At one point the UK was ahead of the game, certainly amongst the front runners. It isn’t as obvious that we are today, but the prize is still there. Legislation is the blocker. We haven’t moved on from the 2018 Automated and Electric Vehicles Act, although the excellent Law Commission review has recently pointed the way.”
Finally, tell us about your new job at the ORR…
DR: “The ORR is the independent regulator for Britain’s railways, and also monitors the performance of the Strategic Road Network. It has proven itself to be one of the better regulators, trusted to do a job in everyone’s best interest, and this is a very exciting time for both rail and road.
“The ORR has an obvious focus on safety and value of money, but to do this we’re increasingly involved with data – how intelligence can be brought to bear on improving the flow of traffic and the movement of people and goods.”
Please note: a version of this article was first published by the Institute of the Motor Industry’s MotorPro magazine.
