Driverless cars trial set for UK motorways in 2019

There are plans by the Driven Group to test driverless cars on UK roads and motorways in 2019. Previous tests of driverless vehicles in the UK have mainly taken place at slow speeds and not on public roads.

Oxbotica who makes software for driverless vehicles are leaders of the Driven Group. Some of their plans also include trying out a fleet of autonomous vehicles between London and Oxford. The cars will communicate with each other about any hazards and should operate with almost full autonomy - but will have a human on board as well.

The project is backed by an £8.6m government grant and involves an insurance company, which will assess the risks involved at each stage of the journey.

The UK government has committed about £100m in total towards autonomous driving projects and has said it wants Britain to "lead the way in developing" the tech.

"It will save so many lives and so much money."

Source BBC

March of the 20mph camera enforced speed limits on busiest roads across Britain

Motorists face £100 fines as 20mph limits are imposed on some of Britain’s busiest roads.

Until now, the lower 20mph speed limit has been restricted to smaller roads in residential areas or near schools. However this is about to change with 20mph limits to be introduced on major arterial roads (policed by the latest digital speed cameras).

London Mayor Boris Johnson has revealed that eight pilot schemes will be run on ‘Red Routes’ – the main arterial roads that carry a third of the capital’s traffic. 

Other towns and cities including Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh say they also intend to introduce the new limits.

The minimum fine fore motorists caught breaking the 20mph limit will be £100 fine and three points on their driving licence.

The AA says the new limits are being driven more by ‘dogma’ than road safety. A spokesman said: ‘These 20mph zones are popping up like spring daffodils.

‘There is a lot of fear among drivers that, with 20mph being a relatively unfamiliar speed, widespread speed camera use will make them look more at their speedometers than at what is happening on populated streets in front of them.’

If the trials in London ( due to last 18-months)  are judged a success, the 20mph limits will be made permanent and imposed on 30 miles of key ‘Red Routes’ considered by transport bosses to be ‘more local road than motorway’. Some 175 miles of residential streets.

Under the new London scheme, the first road to convert to 20mph next month will be Commercial Street in Shoreditch, linking into plans for Tower Hamlets and Hackney to become 20mph boroughs.

Rod King, founder of the ‘20’s Plenty for Us’ campaign group, said: ‘The current 30mph national limit is being rejected as “unfit for purpose” for communities so we’re setting out a series of government actions required for a planned transition to a UK default urban limit of 20mph by 2020.’

A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘Research shows 20mph zones can save lives and this government has made it easier for councils to introduce them.

‘It is for local authorities to set speed limits and for the police to decide how best to enforce them.’

The spokesman added: ‘We are undertaking a three-year research project to better understand the effect of 20mph zones and their impact on local communities.’

Think Britain's Roads are Busy Now? Just Wait Until 2034 When There'll be an Extra 20 MILLION Drivers

Roads could be jammed with an extra seven million drivers within 20 years, according to the RAC Foundation.

The number of road users will leap from 36 million to 43 million if current trends persist, the foundation said.

It said its forecast was consistent with Government figures which predict that compared with 2010, traffic levels on urban roads in England and Wales will rise by around a fifth by 2025 and by a third by 2035.

The biggest increase by 2025 is predicted to be in eastern England and Yorkshire and Humberside (both up 25%), while the biggest rise by 2035 is Yorkshire and Humberside (up 40%).
The RAC Foundation's 43-million vehicle forecast came as it published essays by transport experts in a paper entitled Moving Cities: The Future Of Urban Travel.

The essays showed 49% of people in England and Wales now live in towns or cities with a population of at least 250,000 with three-quarters of households in towns and two-thirds in cities owning a car.
RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said any new road investment due to be announced this week by the Government was very welcome.

He went on: "But our work illustrates the massive challenges we also face in unclogging our urban areas. Traffic forecasting is not an exact science but the direction of travel is clear: towards increasing jams.

"We all want to see more drivers using alternative methods of getting about but the Government's own figures suggest we face an uphill battle under present policies.

"To preserve the quality of life in towns and cities we must revise our travel expectations and ministers need to set clear and coherent strategies to facilitate this."

Source