London wants Google’s driverless cars

London’s transport bosses are trying to persuade Google to test its driverless car technology in the UK capital.
The city’s deputy mayor for transport, Isabel Dedring, has revealed that officials are in “active discussions” with Google over setting up tests for the company’s pioneering driverless car technology in London.
“It’s going to have to work in big cities so why don’t we start trialling it now?” Dedring recently revealed to the press.
It seems that while Google is focused on trials in its home country at the moment, it is starting to turn its attention to other territories.
Having met with Google a few weeks ago to put the idea of London trials to it, Dedring said that London’s transport authorities “would be keen for trials to happen in London whenever Google are ready to move them into other countries.”
Dedring did admit to being skeptical about the technology, but she explained the appealing prospect of being able to plan smaller (and thus cheaper) transport tunnels for such vehicles.
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Google is widely held to be at the forefront of driverless car research and development, with more than a 1.4 million miles of test miles clocked up since trials began in 2009.
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So far, however, testing has been restricted to Mountain View, California, where Google is based, as well as Austin, Texas. It was recently announced that Google would be taking its tests to the more challenging environment of Kirkland, Washington, but that’s nothing compared to a drizzly London at rush hour.