UK to trial 'driverless' truck convoys
Britain is to test the viability of partially 'self-driving' truck convoys by the end of next year, the government said on Friday.
Under the proposed trial, up to three three trucks will travel in formation, with acceleration and braking controlled by the lead vehicle. The first vehicle is to be driven by a human and use wireless technology to operate the following convoy and drivers will still steer those lorries.
It awarded a contract to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to carry out the tests of what are dubbed truck "platoons".
However, unions and road lobby groups said they were concerned about safety on the UK's notoriously busy roads.
AA president Edmund King Edmund King said he was “not yet convinced” that lorry platooning on UK motorways was a way to reduce fuel consumption and transport costs.
"We have some of the busiest motorways in Europe with many more exits and entries. Platooning may work on the miles of deserted freeways in Arizona or Nevada but this is not America," he said.
AA peer group the RAC Foundation said streams of close-running trucks could provide financial savings on long-distance journeys, “but on our heavily congested motorways - with stop-start traffic and vehicles jostling for position - the benefits are less certain".
Truck drivers union Unite said: “The crowded and cramped roads of Britain are a far cry from the long straight highways of the US and Europe where the 'platooning' of lorries has been tested.”
“While Unite isn't against the use of technology that makes our members' jobs easier, it should not come at the cost of jobs and wages of highly skilled lorry drivers.”
“As well as major issues around safety, there's a whole host of practical issues such as the order of a convoy where different hauliers are involved.
“No haulier will want its lorry at the front of a convoy for too long, but instead in the middle where their lorry will use less fuel than their competitors.”