The U.K. government is getting more involved in the autonomous vehicle craze, announcing Wednesday that it will begin testing driverless cars on public roads.
The announcement comes on the same day that the government released a six-month review of the technology, confirming that there is nothing holding it back from testing driverless vehicles, according to PC Magazine.
Officials say they will publish a Code of Practice in the spring to let people try these cars out on the road, saying they are looking for "a light touch/non-regulatory approach" that will allow them to test driverless vehicles faster than they would with the regulatory approach that the U.S. and other countries are using.
"The U.K. is at the cutting edge of automotive technology- from the all-electric cars built in Sunderland, to the Formula 1 expertise in the Midlands," U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable said. "It's important for jobs, growth and society that we keep at the forefront of innovation."
The trials will be held later this year in four cities: Greenwich, Milton Keynes, Bristol and Coventry, The Verge reported. Vehicles to be used in the trials will include the Lutz Pathfinder Pod in Milton Keyes and Coventry and the Meridian shuttle in Greenwich, both of which are electric cars. Another vehicle, reported to be a military jeep, will be tested in Bristol.
The four cities are the winners of a 19 million-pound competition launched by the U.K. last year with the goal of choosing spots for testing driverless cars, PC Magazine reported. The country intends to put the first driverless vehicles supported by the prize on the road this summer.
The goal, according to Cable is to put the U.K. ahead of everyone else in the autonomous vehicle industry, which he expects to be worth 900 billion pounds by 2025. The country will have a lot of catching up to do, as the U.S. is already conducting self-driving car tests and California has already started issuing permits for the technology to car makers.
The U.K. plans on changing its domestic regulations to include self-driving technology by the summer 2017 and update international regulations by the end of 2018, PC Magazine reported.
"These are still early days but today is an important step," Transport Minister Claire Perry said. "The trials present a fantastic opportunity for this country to take a lead internationally in the development of this new technology."
