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Waymo (Google) autonomous car on test. Promoters and developers of autonomous cars are spending this weekend on Achill Island, discussing the state of play of the technology, writes Brian Byrne . This follows a conference in Dublin yesterday at Iveagh House, where speakers including James Taylor of BMW ReachNow; Bobby Hambrick, CEO of AutonomouStuff; Barry Lunn, CEO of Arralis, and Peter Barry, Chief Software Architect of Jaguar Land Rover offered their views on the progress towards self-driving vehicles. The Achill Island event is sponsored by Mayo County Council, as Mayo and the west of Ireland have apparently been 'identified' as an 'impressive location' for the testing of self-driving technology.

A Ford Fusion with autonomous technology on test. Four in ten Irish motorists believe that self-driving cars are a 'good idea', but a similar number said they 'wouldn't trust' them, writes Brian Byrne . And a similar proportion again, 42pc, said they believed autonomous cars would lead to less deaths and injuries on the road. More than half said they's use their phones, or read, or watch TV while their cars are in control. All that is from a Road Safety Authority-commissioned survey, presented at the RSA's recent International Conference. Liz O’Donnell, Chairperson RSA, said that connected and automated vehicle technologies have the potential to make a major positive impact on road safety. "The transition period to self-driving vehicles needs to be carefully planned and managed in this country as this is likely to be the most challenging part of adopting this technology in Ireland," she added. "It is critical that Ireland has the r...

Top people from the Irish and international motor industry are in Killarney for two days of discussion centred on electric vehicle technology and trends, and the progress towards the autonomous car, writes Brian Byrne . The event in the Irish National Exhibition Centre is hosted by Cartell.ie, the vehicle information specialist, with MC being former Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson. The speaker list included top executives from Ford's research and development headquarters in Aachen, Germany; telecoms and connectivity specialists Nokia; electronics and automotive systems giant Bosch; EUCAR, the European Council for Automotive R&D; Applegreen; Nissan Ireland; the Norwegian EV Association; the Electric Vehicles Division of Nissan Europe; Volvo Cars; and the Valeo automotive technology company. Corporate partners include First Auto Finance, Nissan, SEAI and Start Monday automotive industry recruitment. Among the early speakers was Barry Napier, CEO of Cubic Telecom,who t...