You are probably aware that Google has been testing self-drive cars in the USA for quite some time now so it should not come as a surprise to hear that it will not be long before such vehicles are being road-tested here in the UK. In fact, it has been announced that tests start in four places here in January 2015.
The locations that have been chosen are Milton Keynes, Coventry, Greenwich and Bristol. The projects will vary in length from 18 to 36 months.
The UK Autodrive project is being conducted in Coventry and Milton Keynes. Those taking part include universities, Jaguar Land Rover and Ford. They will be involved in the testing of driverless cars on public roads. They will be looking into the technology that needs to be incorporated into roads etc to help with navigating vehicles. In addition, in Milton Keynes, they will be testing driverless pods in pedestrian areas.
The Gateway scheme is taking place in Greenwich and is going to be testing robotic valet parking plus electric shuttle buses that are automated. Those involved include the RAC, AA and General Motors.
The Venture consortium in Bristol will be looking into the insurance implications as well as studying the publics’ views on self-drive cars. They will also test the vehicles in the city looking at safety and congestion implications.
The idea of the projects is to establish how safe these vehicles would be on our roads i.e. will there be less road traffic accidents, help the environment due to reduced carbon emissions, lower congestion levels thus making travelling more efficient, ultimately in the hope that they can be introduced permanently on our roads.
Those looking into the insurance implications will have to consider who is responsible in the event of an accident i.e. is it the manufacturer? Consideration will also be taken of the publics’ views about such vehicles being available to drive on our roads.
Initially, tests will be conducted on roads that have been closed with the Government providing £19 million towards the funding of these projects.
We await the outcome of these tests with great interest.
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