Driverless automobiles get the green light

Driverless vehicle technologies has sophisticated rapidly in current years, and most significant automobile companies are operating on their own versions.

In the US, Google is deep into road trials of its autonomous automobiles, and Apple is rumoured to be pondering of joining the fray.

Questions to be addressed

But an innovation as revolutionary as driverless automobiles begs a lot of inquiries:

• who is accountable for the automobile?


• who is liable in the event of an accident?


• what occurs if the car’s computer systems are hacked?


• can a driverless car operate with no-one particular in it?


• can you use an autonomous automobile if you are blind or partially sighted, or otherwise physically impaired?


• what about when you are more than the alcohol limit?

Changing attitudes

Then there’s a whole clutch of concerns about the behaviour of other road customers.

For instance, will pedestrians quit utilizing crossing and just step out into the road, safe in the expertise that cars will cease for them?

Exact same applies to cyclists, and drivers of ‘normal’ vehicles.

If so, what will be the effect on targeted traffic flow and congestion?

And what about carjackers? Step in front of a auto you fancy, and it will roll to a quit at your feet. Deeply worrying for anybody to contemplate, specifically these with youngsters on board, and ladies driving alone.

Pilot programmes

As the world adjusts to the driverless phenomenon, the government is backing 4 trials in Greenwich, Milton Keynes, Bristol and Coventry to measure the achievement of the technology, decide the insurance and legal implications and gauge the public’s reaction.

It hopes for a strong return on its investment of £19 million from a worldwide market that is anticipated to be worth billions in the next decade.

In the meantime…

The autonomous Meridian shuttle will run in Greenwich and appears a bit like an elongated golf buggy.

Then there’s the prototype driverless pods in Coventry and in Milton Keynes, trundling amongst the railway stations and shopping centres.

The Wildcat is most likely the most thrilling car. It’s a modified military jeep becoming tested in Bristol.

In the trials, a totally certified driver is on hand to take more than the controls if essential.

Cracking the code

The subsequent step is a code of practice, due in the spring, that will supply the framework for tests in actual-life scenarios.

A complete assessment of domestic regulations will not take place till 2017 and will most probably involve alterations to the MOT test and amendments to the Highway Code.

The review will also appear at the legal implications of a collision involving a driverless car and think about regardless of whether a greater common of “driving” need to be demanded of automated vehicles.

Driverless automobiles get the green light