-
POCKET BOX TARGETS ROAD TRANSPORT SECTOR WITH ASSET MANAGEMENT ENHANCEMENT - 18 hours ago
-
PINPOINTERS ENHANCES FLEET AND VIDEO TELEMATICS OFFERING WITH LINK-UP WITH QUECLINK WIRELESS SOLUTIONS - 2 days ago
-
BCMPA HELPS TO OPEN DOORS FOR US TRADE PARTNERSHIPS - 2 days ago
-
ARROWXL SECURES FIFTH CONSECUTIVE GOLD ROSPA AWARD - April 19, 2024
-
Delivery management platform, Scurri topped over €12 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in the total value of shipments processed in 2023 - April 17, 2024
-
Britvic reaffirms partnership with LPR - April 17, 2024
-
Kammac Supports Nimble’s Expansion into 500 Tesco Stores - April 5, 2024
-
Axiom Sustainability Software launches groundbreaking Social Value Calculator - April 4, 2024
-
Change to minimum wage and its impact on logistics - April 3, 2024
-
PARKSAFE GROUP TEAMS UP WITH QUECLINK WIRELESS SOLUTIONS IN FLEET TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP - March 27, 2024
Leading HGV training provider welcomes driverless vehicles.
Photocaption: System Group’s Colin Gordon says the transport and logistics sector needs to embrace ‘driverless’ technology but safety should always be paramount.
TRIALS of ‘driverless’ commercial vehicles planned for Britain’s roads in 2018 have received a cautious welcome by one of the transport and logistics sector’s leading training providers.
System Group, which trains and supplies qualified drivers for national and international transport and haulage operators, says the sector needs to embrace the latest technology but safety should always be paramount.
The move comes in the wake of the Government’s announcement last week that wirelessly connected HGVs could travel along major roads by the end of the next year.
This will see acceleration and braking managed by a person in a lead vehicle with groups of up to three lorries on Britain’s roads controlled in this way.
The idea for so called driverless lorries was first voiced in 2014 and last year it was reported that a stretch of the M6 in Cumbria could be targeted as a testing ground.
Those behind the plans say that lorries driving close together could see the front vehicle pushing air out of the way, making the other vehicles more efficient and lowering their emissions.
Similar trials have already been carried out elsewhere in Europe and in the US but experts have questioned the suitability of self-driving lorries in the UK.
Colin Gordon, a director of System Group, said: “Our roads have fewer lanes and more junctions closer together than where the trials were conducted, so driver safety on entry and egress are serious issues for consideration.”
The Government has promised to invest more than £8 m in funding towards the trials.
“If you’re looking at it from a sector point of view, we are keen to see progress in terms of technological development,” said Colin Gordon.
“From a fuel efficiency, reducing congestion point of view we are keen to have those trials to see if they work well. But the safety issue is the biggest concern.”
He said that the convoys of lorries could lead to problems for people getting on and off the motorway, for example.
He also added that, in his opinion, there would still be a job to be done for HGV drivers and that the logistics industry would continue to grow but at this juncture its difficult to say exactly how it would affect the sector.