A driverless electric car is on show in the Lake District for people to share their views.
The vehicles are being considered by the Lake District National Park Authority as a sustainable transport alternative to reduce congestion and pollution.
People are being invited to head to Brockhole visitor centre in Windermere to view the vehicle, called a POD, and staff will be on hand to talk about it.
Of the 19 million visitors that come to the Lake District each year, 89 per cent travel by car – creating around a third of the national park’s total carbon emissions.
Emma Moody, the authority’s lead adviser for sustainable transport says in future the PODs could offer eco-friendly on-demand car sharing and could provide an option for visitors’ ‘last mile’.
Emma said there was an opportunity for people to think about doing the last leg of their journey as sustainably as possible – from a transport hub or their Lake District base.
The POD is now available for people to see, in the grounds of Brockhole until May 31.
Emma said: “We’d love to get people’s thoughts and ideas including – what sorts of journeys they would use a POD for, what speed they would be comfortable travelling at, and when this might be a common form of transport.
“PODs use a mixture of sensors, radar and AI to navigate crowded areas and to scan the area looking for information, acting as the ‘eyes’ of the car,” adds Emma.
Working with Westfield Technology Group, the Authority is exploring how they could offer residents and visitors accessible and sustainable transport to reduce the need to drive and to cut carbon.
Driverless PODs are already in use in other parts of the country.
The POD project at Brockhole is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as a part of a Low Carbon Lake District partnership.
It is one of a number of new technologies being adopted and considered by the Authority to make their visitor centre operations more sustainable.
People can find out more about the Brockhole POD and make their views known on line at www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/pods
