Various private companies have been testing their driverless vehicles on London’s roads with a view to launching passenger services later this year. The London Assembly Transport Committee has examined the imminent deployment of autonomous passenger services in London and its potential environmental and mobility impacts in a report ( “Who’s driving the future of autonomous transport in London?“) and issued recommendations for Transport for London (TfL):

• The power to issue and withdraw Automated Passenger Service (APS) permits, and to set conditions for operators wishing to deploy autonomous passenger vehicles in London, should devolved to Transport for London (TfL).
• TfL, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust and the London Fire Brigade (LFB), should establish a standard framework for interaction between autonomous passenger vehicles and emergency services.
• TfL should establish a definition for safety incidents (crashes and near misses) involving Autonomous Passenger Vehicles, and should require as a condition for granting consent that this information is provided within 24 hours, along with the vehicle’s decision-making processes that led to the incident.
• TfL should establish “empty miles driven” as a core reporting metric and a condition for granting Automated Passenger Service (APS) permits. TfL should continuously monitor this data, alongside data on traffic levels and congestion. Negative impacts on congestion should be a reason for withdrawing the permit.

Most importantly, the report underlines how these vehicles may affect London’s transport strategy targets and instead of just accepting the model proposed by operators, urges to rather look at the solutions the technology could provide to solve the current transport problems.

Download the full report

---

Source: The original article was published here