They weigh 44 tonnes, travel nose-to-tail in convoys and communicate using a combination of WiFi, cameras and radar. And if you look in the cabin and see a driver without his hands on the wheel do not panic — that is all part of the plan.
The prospect of driverless lorries hurtling along motorways will move closer in the UK next week when George Osborne will use the Budget to announce trials for the automated convoys as part of a sweeping embrace of auto technology.
But a substantive question remains about the lorries: just how much space can the “road trains” safely leave between the vehicles’ bumpers?
Volvo has done tests in Sweden, and found the gap could be as little as four metres, which would leave a breaking time of just 0.2 seconds if the convoy, known as a “platoon”, were travelling at 44mph. If a second’s breaking time were required, that would mean a distance of 22 metres for a platoon travelling at 50mph.
Linked by wireless communication, radar and camera systems the lorries brake simultaneously when the leader of the pack slows. The technology, which has been tested in the US and in other parts of Europe, sees the front truck use lane-sensing technology to stay inside the lines, while others in the convoy follow behind.
Although each lorry will have a driver in the cab, once on the motorway the lorries drive themselves — with the driver taking control to leave the motorway and depart to difference destinations.
Six of the largest European truck brands — Volvo, Scania, Mercedes, Iveco, MAN and DAF — will next month criss-cross Europe as part of an EU programme to trial the platoon approach.
Mr Osborne will use his Budget speech to accelerate Britain’s embrace of such technology, pledging to overhaul regulation to allow driverless cars to run on motorways by 2020.
“Driverless cars could represent the most fundamental change to transport since the invention of the internal combustion engine,” he said.
Nissan has announced plans to introduce fully autonomous vehicles by 2020, while others companies, such as BMW and Mercedes, already have some “lane control” abilities in existing cars. The industry says driverless cars could eliminate the vast majority of road accidents because machines do not get distracted or fall asleep.
“At a time of great uncertainty in the global economy, Britain must take bold decisions now to ensure it leads the world when it comes to new technologies and infrastructure,” said Mr Osborne.
Driverless lorries have been touted as having the potential to transform the haulage and logistics industry, cutting workforce costs and fuel bills while improving productivity.
Driving in platoons would not necessarily initially save haulers money, cautioned Malcolm Bingham, a director at the UK’s Freight Transport Association, as the cost of the technology would outweigh the likely fuel cost savings.
But, he added, the technology was “a useful stepping stone to full autonomy”, which would allow haulage groups to run trucks continuously, avoiding the costs of driver breaks or restrictions on working hours.
Under Department for Transport plans seen by the Financial Times, truck manufacturers, engineering companies and haulage groups will be invited to tender for testing licences from as early as next month.
A £19m scheme that is likely to be extended in Wednesday’s Budget has seen test centres set up for driverless cars in Coventry, Bristol, Greenwich and Milton Keynes. A further £100m was pledged from public funds last year towards research and development into the technology.
Mr Bingham said the trial phase was important to test the suitability for UK roads.
A key issue for the tests is how to prevent lines of lorries from blocking other motorists from joining or leaving the motorway. This is why it has been suggested that the M6 in Cumbria could be a test area.
“On that part of the M6 the junctions are very widely spaced apart,” said Mr Bingham. “You couldn’t do it on the elevated M6 in Birmingham, where junctions are close together and motorists cross two lanes to leave the motorway.”
It is also expected that the first convoys will travel at night, when the chance of disrupting other motorists is minimised. “You can’t replicate these sorts of problems on test tracks,” said Mr Bingham. “You have to be on the road.”
Driving trucks close together is not only safer but also more fuel efficient, according to industry estimates. Savings range between 5 per cent and 20 per cent from lower fuel use by trucks at the back of the convoy, because they encounter less wind resistance.
The Department for Transport said: “We are planning trials of HGV platoons — which enable vehicles to move in a group so they use less fuel — and will be in a position to say more in due course.”