The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced a new action plan for artificial intelligence (AI) and its role in transport.
The plan outlines four key goals:
- Adopt AI responsibly to deliver better transport for all
- Maximise the economic benefit from AI applications in transport, while reducing transport’s environmental impacts
- Secure the UK position at the forefront of transport-related AI applications
- Utilise AI to enhance the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of DfT.
The DfT intends to explore new public sector procurement levers and will 'fast-track pilots of self-driving vehicles ahead of the Automated Vehicle Act coming into full effect in 2027'.
The Bill is projected to support the creation of 38,000 jobs and add £42bn to the UK economy by 2035.
The DfT will co-ordinate with existing partners such as Intelligent Transport Systems UK and the Connected Places Catapult through the Transport Research and Innovation Board (TRIB) on the AI agenda.
It is also expected that a ‘range of economy-wide provisions to support AI will be put in place', with the DfT planning to ‘play its role’ in ensuring theses benefit the transport sector.
The DfT argued called for this a long-term shift to data being open and shared 'by default' as the industry standard to support the development of AI.
The department also hopes internal data will be generated, stored and shared in an AI-ready manner by default, which will make the use of any data for AI training far more efficient and therefor time and cost-effective.
Ministers plan to establish 'proportionate governance mechanisms that apply to R&D, industry adoption and standards and regulations'.
The DfT has identified five ‘action areas’ – leadership, skills and capabilities, infrastructure and data, applications and engagement – which it thinks will be essential for responsible adoption of AI.
For each of these areas, it has outlined plans ranging from working with regulators to ‘ensure they have the right capabilities and balance the need of safety and innovation', to supporting and engaging with small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) in bringing forward transport AI solutions.
Image credit: Shutterstock @Summit Art Creations
