00:00I'm here in Margate, no not for the fish and chips, for the 2025 Self-Driving Vehicle of
00:09the Year Awards here at the Turner Centre. Now I'm going to go check out some autonomous tech.
00:13The annual Self-Driving Industry Awards by Cars of the Future attracts some of the best automated
00:17vehicles in the world to Kent. The Omnio Shuttle won the top award last year. Despite its cute
00:22appearance the Shuttle is intended for large-scale passenger transport while boasting totally green
00:27tech. Using sensors, cameras and AI-powered obstacle detection, the Shuttle intends to
00:32navigate university campuses, city centres and airports totally on its own. It doesn't even
00:37have a steering wheel. A slightly more familiar vehicle is the automated bus. While it looks
00:41identical to your normal town bus, this vehicle intends to eventually operate entirely without a
00:46driver. Well we've already actually deployed autonomous buses already in several places in the UK.
00:53The whole important thing about this is to make sure that passengers have a seamless
00:58journey and it's not a rollercoaster ride, it's quite a sedate, calm autonomous bus service.
01:04Self-Driving Vehicles aren't just a bit of sci-fi fun. The industry leaders here told me they hope
01:08the developments could help to reduce road deaths, improve driving accessibility and contribute to
01:13green energy efforts. You take away the driving task, that's handled by the technology. So you free up
01:19huge amounts of time. You can increase accessibility for people that can't drive, that's one of the big
01:27promises and that brings its own challenges. So you have to talk about people with disabilities and how
01:34you communicate with them potentially when there's no driver on board. But the biggest factor is safety.
01:42I know the more data that you gather, it is a game changer for safety. There's over a million
01:50road deaths globally, every year a million, and this technology can solve that. By 2035, 40% of new
01:58cars in the UK could have self-driving capabilities. But would you trust technology taking the wheel in Kent?
02:03You've got Sam's in Sunderland, Cambridge Connector, and I would love to bring that to this part of
02:10the world. And I'd love to see something like the Omeo shuttle going along the seafront.
02:15Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Margate.
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