Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research his Department has undertaken on driverless cars and their effect on the HS2 Business Case.

Currently no assessment has been made into the effect of driverless cars on HS2. However, in 2013 Department for Business Innovation and Skills and the Department for Transport, working in partnership with Innovate UK, launched a £10m co-funded competition for research and development projects to investigate how driverless cars can be integrated into everyday life in the UK. The competition aimed to identify up to three towns or cities to host trials of driverless cars and other road vehicles in a real-world environment. Trials are expected to start from January 2015 and last between 18 and 36 months. This approach is amongst the first in Europe and will showcase the UK’s creativity in helping our industries develop their technological capability. The Department will continue to develop its understanding of technological capability and its impact on the transport network including for the case for HS2.