On the 6th of February 2019, the government announced that there is a development going on to support the advanced trials of automated vehicles. This is to support the UK automotive and technology industries.
Feedback was given from industry and the government then went on to announce that its world-leading code of practice for testing the vehicles will be strengthened to get clear views to be able to have safe and responsible testing’s.
The UK`s market and connected and automated vehicles have been estimated to be worth fifty-two billion by 2035. This proves that the government is on the road to meet dedications to have fully self-driving vehicles on roads in UK by 2021.
One person called Jesse Norman, future of mobility minister said because of the UK's world-class research base, the country is in the vanguard of the development of new transport technologies, including automation. Also, the government is supporting the safe, transparent trialling of this pioneering technology, which could transform the way we travel.
Another person called Richard Harrington said that the UK has a rich heritage in automotive and development and manufacturing, with automated and electric vehicles set to transform the way we all live our lives.
He then went on to say that we want to ensure through the Industrial Strategy Future of Mobility Grand Challenge that we build our success and strength to ensure we are the home of development and manufacture of the next generation of vehicles.
Also, Richard said we need to ensure we take the public with us as we move towards having self-driving cars on our roads by 2021. Because of the update to the code of practice, it will provide clearer guidance for those who want to hold trials on public roads.
The “code of practice”, makes it very clear that automated vehicle testings are possible on any UK road as long as they follow the UK law. The update to the code knows the growing needs of the industry to conduct more extreme trials.
Because of the strengthened code, those that carry out trials for the automated vehicles will be required to publish safety information, trial performance reports and they will need to carry out a risks assessment before conducting the trial. Wherever the trial takes place the trailing organisations will be required to inform the emergency services and anyone who might be affected by the trial.
Another milestone in the governments future to mobility grand challenge has been because of the announcement, a key part of the UK's modern industrial strategy. It aims to take advantage of the innovation in Uk engineering and technology to make journeys more reliable, safer, cleaner and cheaper.