Driverless cars approved for UK

Driverless cars will be tested on public roads in the UK for the first time later this year.

Researchers at Oxford University – in conjunction with Nissan – have been developing the technology for an autonomous car for some time, and have already tested a prototype based on the Leaf on private roads.

But a more extensive trial has now been authorised by the Government as part of a £28 billion road strategy unveiled yesterday.

It means researchers will be able to test the technology on quiet rural and suburban roads, initially with a back-up driver present as a safety precaution.

Driverless cars have already been put through extensive testing in other parts of the world. Google’s fleet of prototypes have covered more than 300,000 miles on public roads in the US.

In fact, a lot of the technology required to make a car fully autonomous is already present on mainstream production models.

Equipment like autonomous emergency braking – where a car uses lasers or radar to sense other cars on the road and applies the brakes if it detects a crash is imminent – along with technologies like sat-nav, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning systems, would form the backbone of a driverless car.

As well as giving the green light to driverless car trials, the Government has also pledged another £500 million towards electric cars.

It has also committed to trebling funding for motorways and A roads, and to widen and resurface major roads.

In addition, the Government will seek to make the six-year funding commitment legally binding on whoever is in power after the next election.

Transport Minister Stephen Hammond said: “For far too long, I think we need to accept, roads policy and investment have been neglected. And successive governments have failed to find an enduring and politically credible answer to the problems that affect our road network.

“It is a simple fact that since 1990, France has built 2,700 miles of new motorway – more than the entire UK motorway network. We have built just 46, between 2001 and 2009. And between 1990 and 2001, annual spending on trunk road schemes in England fell by more than 80% in real terms.”