Speaking at the event, Professor Will Stewart, of the Optoelectronic Research Centre at the University of Southampton, said: "Automated vehicles will be safer.
“One of the compelling arguments for them is that the machine can't have had an argument with his wife in the morning.
"This is technology that can bring up huge benefits, that is why we are trying to kick off this debate – it looks like ten years from now the first fully automated vehicle will be appearing on mixed roads (roads where human operated and machine operated vehicles both drive on).
"It will probably be most useful for haulage with lorries. I think in ten years 30 per cent of trucks could be machine operated.
"Automated transport will affect everyone because the lorries out there will be extremely predictable on the motorway. They won't jump out of their lane in front of people, and they won't kill you when they go to sleep.
"They will not be likely to do anything silly and that will make people a lot safer on the road."
If 30% of freight on British roads is transported by robots, then we should be seeing prototypes on the road next year.
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