Research Roadmap for the AV Ecosystem
Mapping the open questions that will decide what driverless transport means for the UK.
Get involvedWhat it is
The Institute for Driverless Transport was established to help the UK prepare for the consequences of autonomous vehicles. Where those consequences might fall is getting clearer, but real data gaps and unanswered questions remain that policymakers, businesses and individuals will need to address.
Our Research Roadmap is the next step. Over the coming months we are mapping the key unanswered questions that will determine the impact of driverless transport for the UK, focused on the consequences of autonomous vehicles operating at scale across four areas. Our intention is to give the AV ecosystem a common framework: one that directs new research, funding and attention toward important but under-considered questions.
The scale of the task
Four questions that emerged from the roundtables at our launch – questions no single organisation owns, and that show the scale of the work ahead.
Will fleet-based subscription models replace private vehicle ownership, or is consumers’ attachment to their own cars more durable than the AV-optimists think?
What does a fair transition look like for the more than one million UK workers whose jobs are most exposed to automated driving?
Can autonomous vehicles deliver real independence for disabled and elderly people without creating new safety questions in unstaffed shared rides?
Should the UK have a sovereign-capability test for AV operator licensing, given the dependence on overseas hardware and software?
Why it has to be collaborative
To borrow an old phrase, we are dealing with knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. Large-scale AV rollout is uncharted territory. The technology is moving faster than the public evidence base, and the relevant expertise is scattered across industries that don’t talk to each other as much as they could.
That is why this project is necessarily collaborative. Only the people already working on these questions know which have been settled, which are contested, and which remain wide open.
The hardest part of understanding complex systems is often working out which questions to ask in the first place.
Three ways you can help
Share your insights
We are speaking with people across operators, regulators, affected businesses, technology providers, transport authorities, unions, civil society, insurers, lawyers and academia. If you can spare half an hour, get in touch and we’ll find a time to speak.
Tell us about funders
This work can only happen at the depth it deserves if it is properly resourced. Introductions to philanthropic foundations, family offices, or tech investors with public-interest arms would make a real difference.
Share with your network
Pass this on to anyone who should be part of the conversation. The Roadmap will only be as good as the people who feed into it.
What’s next
We look forward to working with the community already forming around IfDT to tackle this challenge as the UK’s rollout of driverless vehicles continues. We are planning to launch the Research Roadmap in September 2026.