KCC wants lorry trials on Kent motorway

Trials of an initiative involving convoys of semi-automated lorries could take place along stretches of the M20.

Kent County Council is urging the government to trial the scheme along what is one of the busiest motorways in the UK largely because it is the main route to Dover.

Ministers announced last year that £8.1m would be available to fund trials of technology for semi-automated convoys.

It involves up to three HGVs travelling in convoy with acceleration, braking and steering controlled by a lead vehicle, known as platooning.

County transport chiefs say in a report they would “welcome the opportunity for a pilot of connected and autonomous freight vehicles along the M20 to the M25 along lane one only, specifically to assess how platooning of such vehicles could maintain fluidity of traffic at the port.”

Haulage groups welcome the idea of trials but say the benefits could be relatively modest.

Chris Snelling, head of UK Policy at the Freight Transport Association, said the technology was already in use in other European countries and the benefits were likely to be around fuel savings and limiting pollution emissions.

The Department for Transport expects trials to begin this year but has yet to select any roads.