Partners for Automated Vehicle Education United Kingdom (PAVE UK) has announced the official addition of Wayve, Nissan and Uber as the first members to join the country’s first initiative advocating for and delivering inclusive and accurate public education and engagement programmes on self-driving technology.
Both Wayve and Uber have stated plans intentions to deploy autonomous vehicles in London this year as part of an initial trial that seeks to further both public engagement and understanding of the technology.
Co-founded the Department for Transport, the Department for Business and Trade, the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), Transport for West Midlands and WMG, University of Warwick; PAVE UK was first established in 2024, and has thus far engaged with over 20,000 public members in the self-driving technology journey through ‘evidence-based and interactive materials and activities’.
The initiative’s self-driving public education and engagement programmes have reached over 25,000 public members at large-scale public events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival and Goodwood Festival of Speed.
PAVE UK has stated that it will communicate safety to the general public, including both the potential benefits and limits of new, automated transport technology. It will also develop principles of responsible self-driving vehicle deployment, such as the role of safety operators in initial trials, and work closely to provide learnings with the government, general public and the wider industry.
Professor Siddartha Khastgir, Director of PAVE UK & Head of Safe Autonomy at WMG, University of Warwick, said,At PAVE UK, we believe the public must be at the heart of self-driving technology development. This technology will succeed and fully achieve its societal outcomes of serving the mobility needs of the cities, improving safety and accessibility, only when the public trusts and accepts it.
We are proud to welcome Wayve, Nissan UK and Uber as the new PAVE UK members. Through this significant partnership, we will open the floor for two-way conversations with the public, bridging the communication gap between the technology and the general public. This demonstrates our collective commitment to enabling safer, publicly endorsed self-driving technology in the UK.
