Small convoys of partially driverless lorries will be tried out on major British roads by the end of next year, the government has announced.
A contract has been awarded to the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) to carry out the tests of vehicle “platoons”.
Up to three lorries will travel in formation, with acceleration and braking controlled by the lead vehicle.
But the head of the AA said platoons raised safety concerns.
In the platoons, the lead vehicle will be controlled by a human driver and will communicate with the rest of the convoy wirelessly.
The following vehicles will be instructed to accelerate and brake by the lead vehicle, allowing the lorries to drive closer together than they could with human drivers.
Lorries driving close together could reduce air resistance for the following vehicles, as the front lorry pushes air out of the way.
This could lead to fuel efficiency savings for haulage companies, which Transport Minister Paul Maynard hopes will be passed on to consumers.
The following vehicles could also react more quickly to the lead lorry braking than human drivers can.
The TRL will begin trials of the technology on test tracks, but these trials are expected to move to major roads by the end of 2018.
The government has been promising such a project since at least 2014.
Last year, for example, it announced its intention to carry out platooning trials but was later frustrated after some European lorrymakers declined to participate.
A Department of Transport spokesman said that the experiments are now expected to go ahead as the contract had been awarded. -BBC
