February15,2019

UK Government announced that the driverless cars are going to occupy UK roads by 2021. 

Transport Minister, Jesse Norman, stated that UK became the leader of the driverless cars in the world due to the best research center. The UK government fully advocated the new and safe technology which might alter the way of travel.  

Department for Transport (DfT) has planned to intensify the code of practice for testing automated cars to ensure the trialling is guided safety. The new regulations demand those who want to test driverless cars to provide certain information including safety information, trial performance reports and carry out risk assessment. They will also be asked to report to the relevant authorities and emergency services.

However, some experts questioned about the safety of driverless cars. Over the past 12 months, several accidents have highlighted the safety of driverless cars. Charlie Henderson, roads experts, mentioned about the issues of how driverless cars influence other road users on the road. Last year, a 49- years-old-woman was killed by an automated Uber car when she was walking on the street in Arizona. 

According to the research from Nicholas Lyes, head of road policy for the RAC motoring organization, 62% of UK drivers are truly scared by the idea of driverless cars, and only 27% believe that driverless cars will make the UK’s roads safer. 

Brake, a spokesman for the UK road safety charity, mentioned that the automated vehicles have the potential to decrease driver errors and avoid tragic deaths and injuries on the road.  

Even though the DfT has predicted that the driverless cars are going to boost the economy, the debate of driverless cars’ safety is going to be a big concern for most of the UK drivers.