Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

The development and deployment of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) 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.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 recognises that not only current technology within vehicles, but technology that is still being developed, can have the potential to improve road safety.

The Scottish Government has published a CAV Roadmap for Scotland which supports a Programme for Government commitment, to put sustainable transport at the heart of decision‑making and ensure that transport plays a key role in delivering net zero emissions by 2045.

https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/46708/a-cav-roadmap-for-scotland-final.pdf

Existing vehicle features such as adaptive cruise control, lane monitoring systems, remote parking capabilities and brake assist, will be augmented through connectivity and automation to deliver even greater vehicle safety capabilities, thus improving road safety.

The number of collisions causing road fatalities could be significantly reduced by CAV technologies, with estimates that by 2030, CAV technologies could save over 2,500 lives and prevent more than 25,000 serious collisions in the UK.

As technology is rolled out in vehicles, as part of the infrastructure, or directly to road users, it will be very important to monitor the delivery of Scotland’s CAV roadmap. This will allow us to research and evaluate the impact that technology may have on road safety.

Transport Scotland will look for opportunities to work with partners to provide information on the safety benefits of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, and other connectivity features that are available now, and ensure that CAVs sit at the centre of efforts to achieve the targets of the Road Safety Framework 2030 and the vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030.