A new era for UK AV innovation?

Today, the Chancellor announced plans to unlock the full potential of Oxford and Cambridge to create ‘Europe’s Silicon Valley’, which industry experts estimate can add up to £78 billion to the UK economy. This follows the recent publication of an action plan for AI, designed to make the UK a world leader in artificial intelligence. We warmly welcome these two initiatives as evidence of the UK’s commitment to putting the UK at the forefront of cutting-edge technology.

At a time when the technology landscape is moving at pace - and we’re beginning to see the tangible benefits AI is having for people and businesses - these commitments represent a necessary and welcome step for local, homegrown innovation. As one of the UK’s leading AI organisations, Oxa is exemplary of how - with the right government support - an environment for innovation can be fostered, for success.

AI will be a critical enabler to so many important new kinds of technology that will revolutionise our way of life, including self-driving vehicles. But in looking to establish its future position as global AI leader, the government must not fail to recognise the technology opportunities that already exist.

Nurturing existing capabilities

While it is critical that support is provided to spur innovation, there is pre-existing AI technology within the UK with meaningful, and tangible, social benefits that have the potential for immediate impact.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are an example of physical AI that is already here and ready to start delivering societal benefits. It is positioned to transform urban mobility today, with shared passenger transportation that addresses challenges like driver shortages, rising costs, plateauing safety records and sustainability. And with a growing, and increasingly elderly, population these issues will only escalate.

AVs are primed for safe deployment through rigorous testing and transparency, both virtually and in real-world, closed-course testing. Using Generative AI, Oxa’s AV software is examined and assured in a virtual environment - not just in a physical environment - enabling vehicles to be deployed safely, while routes can be comprehensively mapped and screened. Explainability is integral to our software development and every decision made by AI can be traced to our design decisions, which we can explain to both the public and regulators.

Importantly, it’s a jobs creator. At Oxa alone, our private funding has created 400+jobs in the UK. By 2040, the UK self-driving vehicle industry could create 12,250 manufacturing jobs, leading to economic benefits as high as £66 billion annually, making it well positioned to contribute to the aims laid out in the government’s plans, including growing the economy.

The AV industry is rich with untapped potential. The government must take an active role in nurturing its pre-existing technology capabilities, while also staying true to its commitment of enabling AI growth with regulation that is ‘pro-growth and pro-innovation’. Enabling AI growth need never compromise safety.

Balancing regulation and innovation

Regulation is fundamental to the safe deployment of physical AI. An approach that enables, rather than blocks, is critical. The government must strike a balance between setting up essential guardrails, while also encouraging AI innovation and with it, the necessary investment.

The Automated Vehicles Act (AVA) 2024 was a great example of a proactive approach, accelerating the positive impact AI can deliver while also addressing potential risk. But practical implementation of self-driving technology is still lagging behind other countries.

‘Off-highway sites’ will be the first to see autonomous vehicles in the UK: private sites; ports; solar farms; airports. Autonomy can augment businesses’ existing operations now, helping to drive down costs and increase margins with their existing workforce. At Oxa, we’re prioritising off-highway autonomy in the UK first because that’s what our UK customers want. Comparatively, our US and EU customers are more interested in autonomy on-road. It’s already possible to run driverless services in the US, and the EU passed enabling regulations in 2022.

In the UK, we’re not finding customers for on-road deployments because, despite the passing of AVA 2024, the UK Government now says enabling regulations won’t be ready until late 2027. Right now, our customers don’t see a viable on-road market in the UK. That lack of customer demand is depriving the UK public of better transport networks and dampening the country’s attractiveness to private investors.

The government must expedite a regulatory framework within the next year that facilitates the deployment of driverless services. Doing so will position the UK as a place where innovation thrives, attracting the investment critical to growing the AV industry and, in turn, accelerating the near-term growth of AI’s contribution to the economy.

Channelling investment

More must be done to make the case for AVs. While regulation will provide the transparency and reassurance in the safety of AVs needed to build trust, more must be done to help public authorities identify how AVs can augment, and fit within, their existing transport offerings.

Globally, we are already seeing AVs deployed throughout local transport networks. In the US, both Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Contra Costa Transportation Authority have their own AV plans. The UK can take lessons from Waymo’s decision to deploy outside the US first in Japan, where AV deployment has always been synonymous with local authorities.

More understanding and interest from public authorities will contribute to increased demand, creating clear, long-term financial and employment opportunities right here in the UK. There is no better time than now, as the government consults on a new Integrated National Transport Strategy, with plans to devolve greater powers to authorities to run their own transport networks. Combining these new powers with the lower running costs of battery-electric autonomous vehicles could dramatically improve the availability of transport services in previously underserved areas whilst bringing us closer to Net Zero.

We are on the cusp of what could be an era of huge transformation for the UK. It is critical that the government recognises the opportunities available and nurtures homegrown talent, supported by the right regulation and investment. With the government’s AI investment plan set to be published within the next 6 months, how it acts now could be the difference between it being a leader, or a follower.