How Britain will make US$29 billion from Driverless Cars by 2025 - British Government's US$29 million Driverless Vehicles Gamble

“Driverless vehicle technology has the potential to be a real game-change on the UK's roads, altering the face of motoring in the most fundamental of ways and delivering major benefits for road safety, social inclusion, emissions and congestion”

Transport Minister Claire Perry on the launch of four (4) driverless car schemes in four (4) UK locations on Wednesday February 11^th 2015

Google isn't alone in pursuing Driverless fully-autonomous Motor vehicles as noted in my blog article entitled “Google 100 strong Fully Autonomous All-Electric Vehicles launched – 25 mph Limit on AI Chauffeur in 2015 with Black Boxes makes Crashes like aero planes”.

Britain, normally seen as a technologically backward country, have decided that they want to be at the forefront of this driverless revolution.

To this end, four (4) locations have been selected by the UK Government and their Ministry of Transport to test out four (4) separate technologies, an investment of some US$29 million (£19 million) dollars by the British Government as noted in the article “UK gives thumbs-up to driverless cars — but first come the driverless pods”, published February 11, 2015 01:02 pm By James Vincent, BBC News.

Britain has tested vehicles like this before, used as Driverless All-Electric Vehicles shuttles at London’s Heathrow Airport since 2011. The difference is that these All-Electric Vehicles will be tested in live traffic at four (4) locations around England as noted in the article “Driverless car debuts on U.K. roads”, published 11.02.2015 By Ivana Kottasova, CNN Money

These four (4) locations and the three (3) pioneers are as follows:

1.      Lutz Pathfinder Pod in Milton Keynes

2.      Lutz Pathfinder Pod in Coventry

3.      Meridian shuttle in the southern London borough of Greenwich

4.      Venturer in Bristol

So why does this all look so familiar?

Britain going into Driverless Cars - SARTRE already given EU a head start

This is the British version of SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), which is a European funded research led by Volvo and several universities across Europe that has since May 2012 been testing out Driverless Cars in live traffic as noted in my blog article entitled “Volvo Testing Autonomous Motor Vehicles in Spain in Live Traffic - EU Project SARTRE adds self-driving AI with smartphone Control”.

Britain is just late to the game, but they realize that the party is worth a lot of money, some US$29 billion (£19 billion) by 2025 worth. To this end, they've also created a Code of Practice which they’re published in the Second Quarter of 2015 in a bid to jumpstart their involvement in this burgeoning industry. 

This Code of Practice will also involve a full review of current legislation by the summer of 2017. They’ll reweight the Highway Code, MOT (Ministry of Transport) test guidelines as well as determine culpability during an accident, as clearly you’ll be an occupant, not a driver.

Obviously this can be easily achieved as the vehicles will be bristling with Cameras. Additionally the company that owns the vehicles will be at fault, having to cover the expenses and pay out insurance claims to the passenger, should he get injured.

So who are the lucky four (4) tasked by the British Government to jumpstart their Driverless Car Program?

US$29 million invested by UK Ministry of Transport - How to Jumpstart Driverless Cars in Britain

As mentioned above, these four (4) initiatives being championed by three (3) companies are as follows:

1.      Lutz Pathfinder Pod in Milton Keynes and Coventry

2.      Meridian shuttle in the southern London borough of Greenwich

3.      Venturer in Bristol

One of these four (4) Driverless Schemes is a set of mini two (2) seater Lutz Pathfinder pods, forty (40) of them in total that are equipped with the same tech as Google's Driverless cars as noted in the article “Driverless car review launched by UK government”, published 11 February 2015 By Jane Wakefield, BBC News.

The Lutz Pathfinder pods are equipped with some nineteen (19) sensors including Lidar, Radar, IR sensors, Cameras and a built in AI (Artificial Intelligence) that drives the vehicle. The top speed is 15mph but thanks to the optimization of how the vehicle takes turns and navigates, it's a lot more efficient at driving about town.

Also, due to its smaller size, the result is a much zippier fun ride. Best of all, it’s on call with the tap of an App made specifically for this Driverless vehicle.

The Meridian vehicle is and looks like someone strapped two (2) golf cart back-to-back. The seats are circular and the contraption holds ten (10) people in total, making this Driverless vehicle look more set to wind up being used for Shuttle services to Airports and carrying Tourists. Along with its Theme parks looks, the Meridian is tapped do to only 12mph; you can literally outrun this thing.

The Driverless project being run by Venturer only consists of a military jeep re-engineered to basically drive on its own. Good to mention at this point that these Driverless Vehicles like Google Autonomous vehicles, are All-Electric Pods.

As for the potential financial payoff for the British Government, it relates to reduced spending on Third party Taxi Services by basically automating that service and reducing their costs to merely recharging, Battery maintenance and retooling the vehicles when they get damaged.

This means reduced Gasoline and fuel bills for the UK Government and increase Tourism arrivals, as they’ll be able to flit about and see the sights in London England unaided. It’ll also translate to improved productivity, as with your mind off the road, you can focus on just doing work or spending time with the family.

It’ll also result in improved road safety, more Brits feeling to go out as it’ll reduce the cost of transport as well as reduce Britain’s Carbon Footprint by cutting back on Emission. The result is cleaner air, healthier people and more leisure time, with savings of up to US$29 billion (£19 billion) by 2025.

Effective, if this catches on in the next two years, we may be witnessing Britain Switching over to a Hydrogen-Electron Based Economy as detailed in my blog article entitled “Whither the Hydrogen Economy for Jamaica”, where all their Public Transport vehicles are All-electric Vehicles.

British and All-Electric Vehicles – Driverless Vehicles may not receive Warm Reception

These Driverless Vehicles are kinda like riding in a mini but with time on your hand to enjoy the scenery and even catch up on homework, reading or even work. Your hands are free and your mind off the road; the vehicle does that for you, potentially boosting productivity for British workers able to work while driving to work.

So, will Brits warm up to the idea of Driverless Cars just like they've seemed to embrace the idea of buses running on Human poop as noted in my blog article entitled “GENeco Bio-Bus runs on Bio-Methane - How 10% of UK's Heating from Human Organic Waste Alone makes Shit worthwhile as GOJ Bio-Fuel Revolution needed”.

Even more interesting, will the British take to All-Electric Vehicles in General, self Driving or not Self Driving? Questions demanding answers from a country that's just awakening to the potential of Driverless Car!