MPs call for UK strategy to deliver benefits of technological changes in transport sector

The Transport Committee made the recommendation in a new report entitled 'Motoring of the future'. It said the Department for Transport (DfT) had "not implemented a coherent, joined-up strategy to link the development and implementation of new automotive technology to the achievement of its wider policy goals".

It called on the DfT to lead the development of a "comprehensive, accessible vision to shape motoring of the future". The strategy should aim to reduce road deaths and serious injuries, cut emissions from road transport, increase road capacity through the use of technology, protect the public from the risk of cyber attacks, enhance social inclusion and boost economic growth, it said.

The Transport Committee also called on the government to "clarify how the introduction of self-driving cars will affect the liabilities of drivers, manufacturers and insurers". It also said the changing nature of technology on motoring should prompt the government to ask the Information Commissioner's Office to review existing data protection laws and update its bank of data protection guidance.

"The vast quantity of transport data now available presents tremendous opportunities to provide smarter, more efficient and more personalised transport systems," the report said. "However, greater clarity is required on the practical application of data governance legislation. The DfT must ask the Information Commissioner to review the current rules and guidance on access to fleet and driver information and the rights of drivers and other interested parties to access vehicle data and to publish updated guidelines on the collection, access and use of vehicle data."

The report also identified with the potential of 'big data' and called on the government to look in particular into how it could use anonymised telematics data to "inform policy", such as the management of traffic and highways design.

"Fleet managers are using telematics to improve the driving of their vehicles and insurance companies are collecting data from a growing number of drivers," the report said. "There is no evidence to suggest that the DfT has taken steps to determine how such new sources of information could be used to inform policy making."

"The DfT should work with representatives from the whole of the insurance industry and others who hold data on driving – for example, motor manufacturers, manufacturers of satellite navigation systems and fleet owners and operators – to see what use it might make of anonymised data from vehicles and how this can be combined with existing information from the Highways Agency to inform policy," it said.