UK has shown a lot of interest in the development of driverless cars on its roads. The business secretary, Vince Cable, stated that £10m fund will be allocated for the researchers involved in the exploration engineering driverless cars. “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.”
Testing of fully autonomous and driver-equipped
The testing of cars on public roads will be done according to laws similar to that of US where driverless cars have been tested on public roads since 2011 in some states. There will be two particular kinds of tests reviewed on public roads: fully autonomous cars without a driver, and those with a qualified driver who could take control at any time
Government Money to aid the Research Groups
UK is to aid the research groups with great investments to make the driverless cars work.
The UK’s innovation agency the Technology strategy Board is to govern the fund of total £10m. The local institutes are given an opportunity to apply for funding by submitting a business case along with the authority as to why the self-driving cars are convenient for transport solution that particular area. It was pre decided that 3 cities of UK will be selected to the driverless car trials in 2015. Deadline for the car research applications is soon going to end in October 2015.
How Does The Car Work?
The car will be detecting traffic and other objects by special camera and sensitive sensors, the problem which is being face right now in the current prototypes are regarding different factors. The driverless car is unable to detect bad weather, potholes, and temporary traffic lights. Also, it has a difficulty of recognizing police officers & human signals.
Benefits Brought by Driverless Cars
“Driverless cars have huge potential to transform the UK’s transport network – they could improve safety, reduce congestion and lower emissions, particularly CO2,” said the transport minister, Claire Perry.
Well, the UK government is pushing its engineers to excel in the driverless car technology with full support. By observing the UK’s enthusiasm and devotion towards this technology, we can predict rapid positive outcomes. Google has also been in this race for years and has been testing the autonomous cars in California. It has been predicted that this technology may be seen on the roads by 2020.