Driverless cars ‘are the future’, says Roads Minister

Roads Minister Andrew Jones has described driverless cars as ‘the future’ as he sets out reforms to motor insurance to cover the emerging technology.

Speaking in Milton Keynes, Jones said that driverless cars were not ’science fiction’ and would be coming ‘sooner than many people expect’, going as far as to describe human navigated cars as ‘just a stepping stone’.

Jones believes that autonomous technology will be a ‘great step forward in automotive history’ and ‘potentially add significantly to quality of life and human freedom’.

He said: “It won’t happen overnight, but we will steadily hand more and more of the driving process over to the vehicle itself. Eventually, there will be virtually nothing left for the motorist to do.

“Those who can’t currently drive will gain the chance to take to the open road. That could transform the lives of many older people.

“Those of us who are already motorists will gain free time on our journeys to do other things; to work, read, watch television or socialise with our fellow passengers.”

Moving onto changes to insurance, Jones dismissed the idea that autonomous cars will make motor insurance unnecessary, but stressed that insurance will need to change.

He said: “Firstly, much of the data on which insurance is priced and sold will steadily become obsolete.

“Secondly, vast quantities of new kinds of data will become available, assessing not individual driver risk but vehicle behaviour and other factors.

“And thirdly, in the event of a serious collision when in driverless mode, it would be the vehicle at fault, instead of the human driver.”

Jones said that the Road Traffic Act 1988 would be amended and that compulsory motor insurance would be extended to cover product liability, meaning that, where the vehicle is at fault, the insurer will be able to seek reimbursement from the manufacturer.

The Transport Minister claimed that for affected individuals the process will feel ‘much the same’ and that the government expects these changes to come into force by the time the applicable vehicles come onto the market.