The government agency with responsibility for administering driving tests and certifying the safety of buses and lorries has found numerous use cases for automation, according to the future roads minister

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has identified various use cases for artificial intelligence technology, including the production of potential questions to be included on the driving theory test.

The DVSA – an executive agency of the Department for Transport – has used AI to support officials in “creating theory test questions prior to them being tested in a controlled test environment”, according to future of roads minister Lilian Greenwood.

AI has also been used by the agency in “calculating the risk rating for MOT Garages… [and] calculating Operator Compliance Risk Score” – in each case with aim “to help prioritise enforcement activity”.

The DVSA has also experimented with “rapid storyboard generation using generative AI,”, Greenwood said, adding that “DVSA uses storyboards to help understand service user journeys”.

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The agency is also engaged in “assessing the potential to use Amazon Web Services Rekognition software for fraud prevention”.

Elsewhere, trials of Microsoft Copilot have seen the software put to use to support the performance of tasks on the vendor’s standard productivity tools, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.

The agency’s specialist digital, data and tech colleagues are also working with Government Digital Service on trials of the GithHub Copilot technology for the automated delivery of software code, the minister added, in response to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Sir John Hayes. This trial will wrap up at the end of this week, after which “DVSA will provide feedback to the government’s Chief Technology Officer Council.

The DVSA is responsible for administering driving practical and theory tests, as well as approving driving instructors and MOT testers. The agency is also responsible for regulating the safety of lorries and buses and overseeing manufacturers’ recalls of vehicles.