news

Transport Scotland launches driverless vehicle plan

Posted: 7 January 2020 |

The CAV Roadmap highlights how Scotland can best benefit from and contribute to the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) industry in the future.

Transport Scotland launches driverless vehicle plan

Plans to keep Scotland at the forefront of developments in the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) industry have been published by Transport Scotland.

The CAV Roadmap sets out the future vision for how Scotland can utilise, benefit from and contribute to the sector and what interventions and initiatives might be required to unlock these opportunities in Scotland, all whilst ensuring that transport plays a key role in delivering net zero emissions by 2045.   

The Roadmap allegedly looks at how geographic and socio-economic diversity has the potential to offer opportunities to test and develop CAV in a range highly diverse environments to the benefit of all sectors of society.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson, said: “I am delighted to launch the CAV Roadmap and deliver one of the key commitments from our Programme for Government. It sets out how Scotland can play a key role in this fast-moving industry, as well as the steps we need to take to unlock these opportunities.

“I intend Scotland to be at the forefront of these technologies. We are ‘open for business’ to test, demonstrate and pilot autonomous vehicle trials. The deployment of connected and automated vehicles has the potential to bring transformative change to peoples’ lives – not just in how we travel, but in how we work, where we live, the environment and safety.”

The CAV Roadmap is said to be aligned with Scotland’s Future Intelligent Transport Systems Strategy and draft National Transport Strategy (NTS2), which set out a vision for the transport system over the next 20 years – one that protects the climate and improves lives. NTS2 highlights that there is the potential for Scotland to become a market leader in the development and early adoption of transport innovations.