London: Philip Hammond’s plan to take a trip in one of the driverless cars he wants to become commonplace on British roads was killed off by Downing Street and the Treasury over concerns of a pre-Budget photo op disaster.
The Chancellor wants fully driverless vehicles on the UK’s roads by 2021 but he admitted yesterday he had never been in one and intended to remedy that during an official visit today.
But aides apparently wary of photographs which could be used as metaphors for a “driverless” government just days before Wednesday’s Budget have insisted Hammond will not be allowed to use one of the vehicles.
A Downing Street source told The Daily Telegraph “he is not going in a driverless car” while a Treasury source echoed the same sentiment and said “he is not getting in a driverless car”.
It came as Hammond made a pre-Budget gaffe when he said “there are no unemployed people” in the UK and as Theresa May prepared to unveil plans to increase spending on research and development by pounds 80 billion over the next decade.
May believes Britain’s economy can thrive through investment in artificial intelligence, clean energy, self-driving vehicles and other cutting-edge business to make it “fit for the future”.
Ministers want to halt the trend of British innovation being picked up and exploited by foreign companies because of a lack of investment at home. Research and development (R&D) currently accounts for 1.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but May wants to increase that to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027 through direct Government investment and financial incentives.
May will unveil her plans during a visit to the West Midlands today with Hammond, during which they will be given a demonstration of the latest autonomous driving technology.
Reforms for the on-road testing of driverless cars will be included in the Budget as part of plans to put the vehicles on UK roads in the next four years. However, Hammond’s praise for the technology came as Jeremy Clarkson claimed he was almost killed on two separate occasions during a single journey in a vehicle with an autonomous capability
. Hammond said the UK needed to “embrace” driverless vehicles but admitted he had never been in one as he appeared on the Andrew Marr Show.
When he was told Clarkson believed the vehicles to be dangerous, he replied: “I think I am promised a go when we visit the West Midlands.”
The decision to ban the Chancellor from the cars came after a picture of him scratching his head was published on the front page of the Sunday Times.
