UK to encourage driverless cars on its roads

30 Jul 2014

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The UK would encourage the development of driverless cars on its roads, it was announced today, with a multimillion-pound research fund and a review of the relevant laws around road safety.

Business secretary Vince Cable says a £10-million fund would be made available for driverless car researchers in the UK, with joint funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) and the Department for Transport (DfT).

''The excellence of our scientists and engineers has established the UK as pioneers in the development of driverless vehicles through pilot projects,'' said Cable. ''Today's announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than six months, putting us at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities for our economy and society.''

The DfT too would initiate a review process of the laws governing road use, including the Highway Code and the Road Safety Act, to allow driverless cars to be tested on public roads, Cable said during a visit to technology and engineering company Mira in Nuneaton in Warwickshire, UK.

Two types of testing would be reviewed for public roads - fully autonomous cars without a driver, and those with a qualified driver who could take control at any time, similar to laws in the US where driverless cars had been tested on public roads since 2011 in certain states.

The UK government would allow the first trials of computer-controlled cars starting January, as part of a move for updating the law to allow driverless cars on UK roads, according to Mailonline.

Ministers had admitted earlier that the current Highway Code and rules of the road were not adequate for the new generation of vehicles which piloted themselves.

Driverless cars on roads are allowed in only certain states in the US only if someone sat in the driver's seat.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles would grant licenses to certain driverless cars and their human co-pilots as soon as September.

Changes to the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic, dating back to 1968, were also afoot. Under an amendment agreed in May, a car driving itself would be allowed as long as the system can be overridden or switched off by the driver.

A driver would need to be present and be able to take the wheel at any time.

The convention covers European countries, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Russia, but not the US, Japan or China.

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