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What does the future hold for the MOT?
MOT (Ministry of Transport)
noun
1. (in the UK) a compulsory annual test for safety and exhaust emissions of motor vehicles of more than a specified age.
? a document certifying that a vehicle has passed the MOT test.
noun: MOT certificate; plural noun: MOT certificates
It might be written on the calendar in the kitchen, it may be an upcoming notification on your phone, but the warning will be there:
‘The MOT is due.’
This is the yearly checkup for your vehicle, its own checkpoint to make sure that it’s still safe to be driven on the road. It’s also a point of anxiety for many drivers too. Your vehicle may have run well in the last few months, but there may be a rumbling sound that you’ve never heard before that could affect the upcoming MOT test.
Ever since 1960, it’s been a standard for 98% of vehicles to be tested so that they can be driven on the road. A tick list marks the fine line between a pass and a fail. The status of a vehicle can always be checked through this link, but it always helps to have a reminder in case the car has an MOT booked.
There are certain requirements for vehicles to be tested within the MOT guidelines, and for a specific fee as well. From cars, to motorcycles, buses and many more, it’s crucial that the earliest the test can be performed the better, as that gives more time to fix any issues that may cause the test to generate a fail.
But with so many improvements in how we use and interact with cars, even before we sit inside them, thoughts have been pivoting towards the MOT as a whole. Mainly involving how it stands in a 2020 world, especially with COVID still deep in the public consciousness. During the pandemic, tests were even delayed and unprecedented waivers granted if you couldn’t attend a garage.
Electric cars are rapidly on the rise, alongside self-automation and there is much more to come for vehicles. It always helps to keep one eye on what could be coming up, especially if you’re someone who likes to upgrade your car every eighteen months.
What Could The Future Look Like?
With so many advances in tech, who knows where we are going with the traditional and decades-old way of testing? Imagine a real-time MOT that tracks the car for one week every year. One that takes the features of the car into an extreme test to make sure that they pass for another year. It removes the need to have a calendar entry, it even removes the need to take the car to a specific place. It might allow the car to diagnose itself, without you having to lift a finger. It’s an alluring prospect for the future, but right now, all eyes are making sure cars are emitting zero carbon by the end of the decade.
A ‘CAV PASS’ was recently announced by the Department for Transport, where it aims to prevent any defects and bugs in driverless cars, while making sure they are secure from cyber attacks that could potentially occur.
This is seen to be the next stage of MOTs as a whole, where tracking and more lenient safety measures are to be put in place.
There’s a reason why the UK roads are seen as one of the safest in the world, especially when you take into account the amount of safety features that are in a car now. From motion detectors, to emission management, and light sensors, almost every feature has safety in mind.
The future of the MOT looks set to change, but for the better. Even though it’s a process that needs to occur every year for almost every vehicle on the road, the growing improvements in technology is making the process more irrelevant by the day. But regardless, safety is paramount when driving a car, for work and for errands. The MOT as we know it now may cease to be by 2030, but something else will take its place to make sure that the electric and autonomous cars are even safer to be used from work, to your home.
Do you need to book your MOT? Click here to book online, or call us on 01522 535840 to speak to one of our expert service advisors.
