Testing of Autonomous Vehicles Receives Green Signal in United Kingdom

Image credit: Transport Systems Catapult.

The testing of autonomous vehicles on public highways has been approved by the government of His Majesty on February 11, 2015. This announcement was made by the Transportation and business development department.

Image credit: Transport Systems Catapult.

However, public participation is prohibited and tests can be performed on selected routes only. Only a small number of these vehicles will be put onto roads and they will have licensed drivers behind the wheel ready to take control in case of any emergency situation. The approval for testing has been granted after a six-month evaluation of the request and see if the country is ready for these high-tech driver-less vehicles.

LUTZ Pathfinder (autonomous pods)

The Meridian shuttle has space for 10 people and a top speed of 12mph. Image credit: Gov.uk.

Lutz Passenger Pod and Meridian Shuttle are two of two autonomous vehicles that have been authorized to carry out tests on open roads. Their trials will take place this year in the cities of Milton Keynes and Coventry and in the Borough district of south London respectively.

The plans are on schedule announced six months ago but the sophisticated autonomous automobiles will be hopefully seen traveling on a road network after a span of 2 years.

In France, the release of the first autonomous cars on the road is also planned for this year

Source: mostepicstuff.com