Driverless cars are on their way, with the UK government to outline plans to allow the futuristic vehicles on British roads sometime next year.
At present, driverless vehicles – the handful which exist that is – are only permitted on private roads in the UK, but this is set to change.
Later today, Business Secretary Vince Cable will outline measures to boost the UK’s footing in the driverless car movement, with plans to introduce test vehicles to UK roads in 2015.
Back in December, the Treasury revealed it would offer a £10 million prize fund to a UK town or city to become a testing ground for driverless cars.
With the UK’s automotive heyday now a distant memory, it is hoped that the new measures will see our humble isle join the likes of California (Google), Sweeden (Volvo) and Japan (Nissan) in pushing the exciting transport technology.
During his 2013 National Infrastructure Plan, Chancellor George Osborne announced a goal “that the legislative and regulatory framework demonstrates to the world’s car companies that the UK is the right place to develop and test driverless cars.”
Sadly, the UK has yet to fulfil these hopes, with the latest measures looking to put the country back on the right autonomous vehicle path.
Google has long been known to be working on driverless cars, with the search giant announcing back in May that it was to produce a small, 100 vehicle, run of compact driverless cars.
Nissan is also getting in on the game, announcing recently it expects to introduce self-parking cars by 2016, with fully autonomous vehicles to follow in 2020.
Read More: Google to build self-driving cars
Via: BBC
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
