by Siobhann Dunn

YESTERDAY’S budget proposed that the UK would be preparing for the future and according to Chancellor Phillip Hammond, this means adopting driverless vehicles.

He said: “Our future vehicles will be driverless but they will be electric first.”

UWS newsroom in Ayr asked local resident Kathleen Hanley what she thought of this announcement. She said; I just wonder, could they not be investing in something that has a higher priority than driverless cars? How is it going to effect our roads which are already congested and busy? How are driverless cars going to work on that?”

Kathleen raised many questions and was doubtful the Governments proposal was the most important sector to invest in.

However retired salesmen, David Burns thinks that autonomous cars could be a positive move, ” It might give people more time to do work as they do on trains with their laptops with their phones out etc. I think that in the fullness of time it will be safer. I believe that the technology will be using radar to ensure they don’t bash into each other.”

Though accidents can’t be ruled out, he said; ” I do believe there will be disasters along the way. I think that the technology will have to go through a bit of pain before its right. But in the fulness of time it will be safer and should in theory, be better.”

For pedestrians he describes it could be safer; “There will be a big advantage for pedestrians, with things like drink driving and drug driving, I mean you’re not going to get a car who drinks and takes drugs. So those sorts of injuries, those sorts of accidents should be ruled out.”

But for people with driving careers this could be detrimental, he continued; “People who drive lorries, who drive taxis are going to be initially anxious as they will be ultimately out of a job.  Wether that takes five years of fifty years, I don’t know but when the technology arrives it won’t take long to roll out.”

We asked a local lollipop man if he felt this would jeopardise his job, he said; “I don’t think so because technology is advanced over the years and we are still here and to be honest, parents bringing their kids to school, I don’t think they would feel comfortable knowing these cars are going about and theirs nobody there to protect them. So I would like to think so.”

“It will certainly make the roads more hazardous. I almost certain that when the technology is in place and every car is driverless then their shouldn’t be a problem.” When I look at some of the vehicles that people are driving just now and they way they drive then sometimes you would assume or hope that a computer would do it better than them to be honest. the decisions that some humans make due to error of judgment and causes accidents.”

The Government is looking to have driverless vehicles on the UK’s roads by 2021.