Uber has launched a small fleet of autonomous vehicles using technology from UK company Wayve. For now, each vehicle still has a human safety driver ready to take control, but the cars are designed to drive themselves.
The launch marks a significant moment for the future of transport, but it also raises an important question for health and safety professionals... what will the shift towards autonomous vehicles mean for driver safety and work-related road risk?
A changing road risk landscape
For organisations with employees who drive as part of their work, road safety remains a major workplace issue. Driverless technology could eventually change the nature of some of these risks, but it also introduces new questions around how people interact with autonomous vehicles and how responsibility is managed when something goes wrong.
Even during the UK's first public robotaxi journey, the safety driver had to take control when a parked van's doors appeared to open into the vehicle's path.
While autonomous technology is developing rapidly, incidents like this highlight why safety, human oversight and clear responsibilities will remain important as these systems become more common.
For employers, this could mean thinking beyond traditional driver training and vehicle checks. As autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles become more widely used, risk assessments may need to consider how workers interact with new vehicle technology, when human intervention is required and what happens when automated systems fail.
The introduction of driverless vehicles doesn't mean that driver safety becomes less important. If anything, it creates a new conversation around what safe driving looks like as technology changes.
For organisations managing work-related road risk, understanding these developments will be increasingly important - particularly as vehicles become more automated and the role of the human driver changes.
At The Health & Safety Event, we explore this wider conversation through our dedicated Driver Safety Zone, delivered in partnership with Driving for Better Business.
The zone brings together specialist partners to share expertise, leadership and best practice around the management of work-related road risk, providing safety professionals with practical information and support to help keep their drivers safe.
As autonomous vehicles move from the test track onto our roads, one thing remains clear. Technology may change how we drive, but safety still has to come first.
👉 Register your interest for The Health and Safety Event 2027 HERE.
👉 Subscribe to Health Safety Digital for monthly updates HERE.