IS THE end in sight for white van man? A governmentfunded trial next year will test driverless vans on the streets.
The project will involve an electric van following a pre-determined route through Greenwich in southeast London to simulate a delivery run between either a warehouse and a shop or between a shop and a home.
Under rules governing the trial, the van, which could be the size of a Mercedes Sprinter, will drive itself, although someone will sit behind the steering wheel ready to take control if anything goes wrong.
Possible points on the route, measuring between one and five miles, could include a £30m Sainsbury’s distribution depot in Charlton and a Tesco Express shop near the O2 concert venue.
Researchers from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) will investigate whether autonomous vans would allow companies to move to around-the-clock deliveries, which could reduce rush hour congestion because fewer vans would be needed. “It’s about demonstrating the concept and then thinking about how that changes the business model for logistics and deliveries,” said Dr Nick Reed, who is leading the project. “It means you can do things around the clock.”
But James Hookham, of the Freight Transport Association, questioned whether autonomous vans would lead to 24-hour deliveries. “I don’t want to be Luddite but the reason you can’t do 24/7 deliveries isn’t because of the driver and the van, it’s because invariably there is no one there to take the goods in,” he said.
Coolin Desai, from the accountancy firm PwC, said it would be “easier” to use autonomous delivery vehicles on journeys between warehouses and distribution centres than dropping off goods at customers’ homes. “If you are receiving a parcel it puts the onus on you to get to the van and take it out. What then happens if you want to communicate with whoever delivered it? What happens if you don’t want it, or it’s late or you want to send it back?”
The trial is part of an £8m project in Greenwich, which will also involve the public being carried in driverless milk float-style vehicles between North Greenwich Tube station and the O2.
The boom in internet shopping has fuelled a 20% increase in van traffic over the past decade, according to the Department for Transport. This has been accompanied by a surge in crashes with vans involved in 14,043 accidents in 2014, up almost 11% from 2013. Reed said driverless vans could improve safety because of “human error being a contributory factor in the majority of incidents”.
In a separate trial next year, a company launched by the co-founders of Skype will test self-driving robots in Greenwich that can deliver groceries to customers’ doors in under 30 minutes for less than £1.