Tech firms are lining up to get in on the
action, alongside Uber and Tesla there
are a league of corporations such as
Google and Alibaba testing the self-
drive technology.
Last year the government predicted
that self-driving cars could be present
on British roads within four years, they
have promised a three-year review
focusing on law, responsibility and the
role in public transport of the self-drive
vehicle first.
Despite ministers' being wedded to the
idea there isn't much public want for the
self-drive model, the ones leading the
charge for the self-drive model are major
tech and motor companies.
However, what these companies
don't tell ministers, as the Private
Eye points out, is the large amounts
of cash taxpayers will have to cough
up to ensure the roads across Britain
are up to scratch and suitable for the
self-drive model. There would also be
a considerable impact on pedestrian
and cyclist relationships with the road,
as well as the urgent need for a cyber-
security programme impossible to hack.
The government's eager willingness
to adopt the self-drive cars is probably
linked to their dismal shortcomings
on road safety. Successive Tory
governments, have seen the number of
traffic police drop by approximately 24%
between 2012 and 2017 and necessary
road repairs go postponed. Willfully
ignoring the need to repair now will cost
taxpayers more in the future. Meanwhile,
in the year leading up to September
2017, there were 27,010 people seriously
injured or killed on British roads.
The benefits of automated driving are
clear and highly publicised, in late 2016
consultants KPMG predicted the annual
economical and social benefits of the
technology could be worth £51bn by
2030. However, the introduction of self-
drive cars poses new risks to the public,
and without proper maintenance and
much-needed repair work on our roads,
the much-vaunted step up in safety is
unlikely to be so significant.
GUESTLIST
2018 / ISSUE 109
17
TECHNOLOGY
MPs are keen for a nationwide roll-out of self-drive cars,
despite the death of an Arizona pedestrian mowed
down by an Uber car in its self-drive mode, UK trials of
the cars continue apace.
WHY WE SHOULDN'T
SPEED INTO SELF-DRIVING
CARS
