The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-03)

12 The Sunday Times April 3, 2022

NEWS

Driverless

vehicles could

appear on roads

within two years,

the government

has confirmed

the DfT’s Science Advisory Council, and

of the UN committee on the safety of

autonomous vehicles, said: “These ges-

tures are not defined in the Highway

Code. They are what we do intuitively.

Everyday we encounter 50:50 situations

where either side has the right of way.

Those situations are resolved in a safe

manner, not because we are following the

rules of the road or the Highway Code,

but because we are making a hand or eye

gesture to indicate what our intention is.

It is an etiquette, which is not written but

we all agree as human drivers.”

News of the government’s decision to

permit self-driving, or fully autonomous

vehicles, emerged quietly in a DfT pre-

sentation to business leaders last month.

Yesterday the DfT confirmed it: “It’s

our vision that by 2025, we will have a

regulatory framework in place to support

the widespread deployment of self-driv-

ing vehicles across the UK’s roads, help-

ing to make the movement of people and

goods safer, greener and more efficient.”

The fully autonomous vehicles, which

will not have steering wheels, or pedals,

will initially be restricted to 20mph and

Whether it is the flick of a hand to say

thank you, or swearing at the window in

frustration, communicating with others

on the road is no easy task.

Soon though, driverless cars could

offer another solution: audio messages

such as “thanks” and “go ahead” played

out loud and emojis displayed.

With robot vehicles likely to be

allowed on British roads from 2025, plans

are being made as to how they will coexist

and communicate with traditional cars.

Although they can be programmed to fol-

low speed limits, understand road signs

and detect unpredictable movements,

they are unable to understand the

nuance of a facial expression or a pedes-

trian asking whether they can cross.

Now an adviser to the Department for

Transport (DfT), who is helping to design

the rules of the road for driverless cars,

believes the answer is to display emojis,

such as a thumbs-up or smiley symbol to

show approval, and broadcast recordings

such as “You may go” to pedestrians.

Dr Siddartha Khastgir, a member of

Nicholas Hellen Transport Editor

It is hard to imagine a more

British scene than a gathering

to celebrate marmalade at a

stately home on a spring day.

The World’s Original

Marmalade awards take place

annually in the Lake District.

This year the competition

received 3,000 entries, a

record 1,000 of them from

artisan makers who sell their

marmalade as far afield as

Zambia and Taiwan.

Paddington Bear’s favourite

treat has been given a

modern makeover.

Once a simple choice

between thick or thin-cut,

fans can choose from jars

flavoured with rose petals

and black pepper, pink

champagne and espresso

martini. Even supermarket

marmalade is flavoured with

flowers, herbs and spices.

Louise Eccles

Consumer Affairs Editor

Marmalade with chilli, basil or

gin — what would Paddington say?

At Dalemain, an 18th-

century house near Penrith,

Cumbria, a panel of

restaurateurs, chefs, retailers

and food historians tasted

thousands of jars sent to them

by plane, train and hand-

delivered baskets, and, last

weekend, they announced

the winners. Some of the

winning jars will now be

stocked in Fortnum & Mason,

the 300-year-old London

department store.

Entries included lemon

and vanilla, basil, chilli, tea

and grapefruit varieties. The

competition rules state the

marmalade must be

predominantly made of citrus

fruit and boiled with sugar

and water. Several were

disqualified this year because

they were too runny.

Jane Hasell-McCosh,

Dalemain’s chatelaine, said:

“We have received jars of

marmalade from all over the

world and we tasted every

single one. People have

realised marmalade isn’t just

citrus, sugar and water. It had

a rather old-fashioned

standing as something you

had on your toast but it is

much more exciting. We

receive some extraordinary

varieties.”

The international category

winner was Noriyuki Enami

from Japan for her red lemon

marmalade made with

reduced sugar. Kuo En Chi

from Taiwan won the “best

marmalade to eat with

savoury food” for her orange

preserve with rose. Irene

Silvester won “best with

alcohol” for her Seville

orange with greengage

liqueur gin.

Sarah Metcalf, Fortnum &

Mason’s grocery buyer, said:

“One flavour profile that

sticks in my mind is a

marmalade made with

lapsang souchong, lemon and

chilli. It had this wonderful

savoury aspect that would

enable the marmalade to be

paired with both sweet and

savoury foods.”

Waitrose said searches on

its website for orange

marmalade recipes had risen

more than 1,000 per cent in

the past two years.

Andrea Watson,

marmalade buyer at

Waitrose, said: “We’re

certainly seeing customers

being more adventurous with

their marmalade choices.”

@Louise_Eccles

1,

Entries in competition for

artisan marmalade-makers

How to thank a

motorist for letting

out your driverless

car... use an emoji

Dan Lepard, the awards’ head judge and patron, with a selection of prizewinning marmalades outside Dalemain House

GUZELIAN

allowed in areas with mixed traffic and a

high concentration of pedestrians. They

will be called “low speed automated vehi-

cles” and it is understood that ministers

have not decided whether to restrict

them to roads with a 20mph limit or to

allow them on those with a 30mph limit.

The machines will need to be pro-

grammed with a different version of the

Highway Code, which relies heavily on

common sense and human judgment.

Statements in the code such as “driv-

ing at speeds too fast for the road” and

“you should always reduce your speed

when the road layout presents hazards”

will not be understood by robot vehicles.

In the US, pilot schemes run by tech-

nology companies have concentrated on

personal “robo-taxis”, picking up indi-

vidual passengers from any point and

delivering them to any destination, but

Britain is taking a different approach.

The first vehicles will be shuttles carry-

ing up to 16 seated or standing passengers

on set routes and delivery vehicles.

Oxbotica, an Oxford-based autono-

mous vehicle software company, expects

to be operating a passenger shuttle capa-

ble of working in mixed traffic on fixed

routes, within two years. It will use a vehi-

cle supplied by ZF, a German firm. Gavin

Jackson, Oxbotica’s chief executive, said:

“The idea of robo-taxis does not really

solve the challenge of congested cities.

Adding more single-occupant taxis is just

going to clog up the system.”

Next month the DfT is to invite bids for

trials through its Centre for Connected

and Autonomous Vehicles.

Mike Potts, founder of StreetDrone,

who wants to run one of the trials, said:

“We expect to make our first autonomous

deliveries in a vehicle without a steering

wheel or pedals, early in 2024. They will

make it significantly cheaper to deliver

packages and groceries.”

@nicholashellen