The Sacred Cows (or “Scared Cows” as the Royal Society of Medicine had it!) went very well on 12 May.



The scene was set by Professor John McDermid who felt that nurturing these beasts was better than killing them although we may have to make some hard ethical decisions in the future.  This was followed by two speakers from NATS (Simon Brown and Ignacio Mesa) who showed that the principle of Distance Based Separation for flights approaching Heathrow could be changed to Time Based Separation with an increase in capacity and no loss of safety (so the cows are still safe here!)



Professor Phil Blythe then looked at the animal from the Automotive and Road Transport point of view and took the prize for the most bovine references and cow animations.  He looked at many areas including Managed Motorways, Autonomous Vehicles and “electronic towbars” (the new name for “platooning”), but again came back to ethical issues of whether cars will ever be fully autonomous.



The session was completed by Dr Daniel Woodland looking at the railway signalling aspect (sorry!) and asking the question, is the way we’ve always done it the best way? Could we make radical changes, increase our capacity, but possibly also increase risk slightly?  Could in the future trains, not signallers negotiate for routes through a junction, heady stuff! 



The panel session raised a number of interesting questions including sensor fusion and could autonomous vehicles actually reduce road deaths, it was interesting that all questions inevitably gravitated to autonomous cars and the risks they presented!  We then all spent an enjoyable networking session over a glass of wine and nibbles, courtesy of Thales. 



I have one gripe and that is with the significant number of people who booked a place and then failed to turn up!  Shame on you! Not only did you miss a good evening, but you prevented another person from enjoying the evening! 



Here's the links to all the excellent video footage we shot on the evening, please help us to promote these videos by forwarding this blog link to your colleagues and post a comment below or on our discussion forum.



Challenging Fundamental Safety Principles



Bringing the cows home: the future role of automation in road transport



Distance between aircraft landing at Heathrow



Brick Wall overlaps



Sacred Cows Panel Discussion

 

Highlights from the Speakers



Peter Sheppard

Chair, Sacred Cows Event

Chair, IET Transport Sector