seems a respectable man, Philip Hammond. but can any individual remember anything he did for the motorist or the automobile industry from 2010-11 as carry Secretary? Me neither.
He talked of 80mph motorway speed limits. but they didn’t materialise. now he’s Chancellor, there are plenty of other hints from Phil, but I concern he won’t deliver.
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• All you need to know about autonomous cars
Take early 2017. He said enough to hint a scrappage scheme may be on the cards – which it wasn’t. Then, he put his name to an eve of autumn budget column in which he stated that the “dream” of driverless automobiles will “soon” (you sure?) become a reality. never mind that our roads, the police, department for Transport, insurers, courts and consumers are simply unable to accommodate, accept or afford expensive autonomous automobiles in the short or medium term. Yet Phil remains convinced. Ish.
“We can embrace it [driverless tech] and take full advantage of what is in front of us,” he wrote. “And my budget will include plans to make Britain a world leader in this area.”
But, er, his budget didn’t, really. and Britain won’t – unless it can catch the Japanese, Germans, Koreans, Americans and others who’ve been spending untold billions on driverless research and development and prototypes for decades while we’ve being doing little.