On the 25th August 2017, the government announced that they were introducing a £8.1m trial of partially driverless lorries on the roads within the UK. The trails are expected to take place at the end of next year.
Research has suggested that over 10 years of automated lorries, it could cost the industry nearly £34billion. This includes the cost of labour, fuel, insurance and vehicle utilisation. There needs to be more money spent into the project at first if the plan goes ahead. This will include building new roads on the motorway built only for these driverless lorries.
The trials will involve a process called platooning, this is where 3 HGVs are linked together through the new and advanced technology. The lead vehicle is controlling the acceleration and braking for all three vehicles. However, in this test, all vehicles have drivers ready to take control at any time.
If the test works, then it will cut insurance rates dramatically. As only one insurance will be needed for the 3 lorries. Therefore, cutting insurance costs for businesses by nearly two thirds.
However, this strategy does have its negatives, there are worries that the technology could get hacked. This could cause huge damage on the roads and to drivers not only in the lorries but around them too.
