Google and other car makers have a new market to deploy their driverless cars on public roads, the UK, starting January next year.
Automobiles are undergoing a massive transition, from manual to automatic to self-driving vehicles. The latter has been a significant pain point for several governments, attracting new laws for driver-less cars on public roads. In what is seen as a breakthrough for car makers, the U.K. government has opened its gates for driverless cars on public roads starting January next year.
Business Secretary Vince Cable announced two official efforts to jump-start driverless cars into public roads. The new initiative invites cities to compete to host one of three trials, which are expected to last several years. Locations will also share £10 million (about $17 million) in prize money.
"Driverless cars have huge potential to transform the UK's transport network - they could improve safety, reduce congestion and lower emissions, particularly CO2," Transport Minister Claire Perry said in a press release. "We are determined to ensure driverless cars can fulfill this potential which is why we are actively reviewing regulatory obstacles to create the right framework for trialing these vehicles on British roads."
The funding for the grant money will come from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Transport along with the Technology Strategy Board.
The ministry of Science and Technology will establish reviews that will eliminate the regulatory hurdles in order to make autonomous vehicle deployment smoother. The technology has been in development by UK engineers, including a team from the University of Oxford.
Autonomous vehicles are currently undergoing regular tests on public roads in select US states, including California, Nevada and Florida. Google is vigorously testing its self-driving tech and has already completed more than 700,000 miles of auto-pilot driving. Other car makers such as Nissan, GM, Ford and Tesla, are also testing their self-driving cars. With the UK government's approval, these car makers will have a new place to explore their self driving adventures.
