16:37 Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)

The robots and their autonomous last-mile delivery systems can help us to reduce road traffic. Less fuel is used, so there are fewer carbon emissions, and the robots are 32 times more energy efficient than normal 3-tonne delivery trucks. The technology can help us to make significant strides towards the goal set out in the Government’s net zero strategy if we can deploy the robots across the country.

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16:50 Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)

I will focus on three points: first, on the contribution that delivery robots can make to carbon savings; secondly, on social acceptance; and, thirdly, on regulation. Transport is now the single biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in this country. There is no single solution to that, but electrically powered, autonomous delivery vehicles can make an important contribution. I echo the points that my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North made, and would urge people to look at how last-mile deliveries fit into the wider freight logistics industry. We cannot look at each part of it in splendid isolation. There is enormous potential for linking last-mile delivery robots to the wider supply chain, helping to decarbonise it as a whole.

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16:56 Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)

The hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Andrew Western) made an excellent point but also used the opportunity to make a nice political jibe about the local council, which I very much enjoyed. The hon. Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart), who chairs the Transport Committee, of which I am a member, supported many of the points made by his colleague the hon. Member for Milton Keynes North in setting out the advantages of autonomous robots, but he also made a couple of good points linking them to the wider supply chain and the decarbonisation of the whole sector. He used them as a case in point, whereby the public were won over to the advantages of autonomous or smart tech, which is completely the opposite of the experience with smart motorways.

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17:04 Gill Furniss (Labour)

The transport sector already contributes almost a quarter of our total emissions as a country. If we have thousands of new delivery vehicles congesting our streets to cope with the increased demand for e-commerce, I fear that our emissions will only continue to rise. That is why we must be forward-thinking and support new technologies that have the potential to support our decarbonisation efforts.

I have seen some of this innovation at first hand. Earlier this year, I visited the ServCity autonomous mobility research project in Woolwich and travelled along public roads in a self-driving car. Just before Christmas last year, I attended an event in this place where I was able to see a Starship autonomous delivery robot in action. Such autonomous delivery robots could have an important part to play in our obligation to achieve net zero.

Britain has the potential to be a world leader in this exciting sector, but, as we have seen all too often, dither and delay from the Government is stalling progress. Labour stands ready to support our science and technology sector and to create high-quality jobs, all while tackling the climate crisis.

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17:10 Jesse Norman (Conservative)

Let me touch on a couple of other aspects that are useful to reflect on. One is the importance of using vehicles that are appropriately sized and designed for a specific task, thereby reducing the effects of collision from vehicles that are potentially overly large for what is required. These small autonomous vehicles are an example of that. It is right to focus on the safety case, but it is also right to look at the issue of emissions and net zero, where there is significant potential for autonomous last-mile delivery vehicles to make an impact. That could be through being modern vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2030, in line with the Government’s policy. It could come through the use of more efficient and better optimised routes between the starting point and the destination, as well as more efficient automated driving styles. It could come through the right sizing of vehicles, as I have touched on. The development of custom-made vehicles can help increase vehicle utilisation, and that should reduce the impact on carbon emissions overall because it creates greater productivity and use from an existing trip. Finally, we have the positive impact that comes from improving the access people have to receiving goods at their home or business. That, too, is an important further advantage of this technology.

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