The future of driving could be just around the corner - and it will be a hands-free experience.

Self-driving cars are coming, reports Perspecs, and they could be on UK roads far earlier than you would expect.

Claims have been made that we will see them by thend of this year. But is the UK ready for autonomous vehicles, or should it put the brakes on this new innovation?

The Claim

Britain could lead the way with self-driving cars, as the government scraps rules to speed up their development.

Fully driverless cars could hit UK roads as soon as end of this year, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Under current law, a self-driving car being tested must be fully insured, and be supervised by a driver who is “ready, able and willing” to resume control at any time. The government is scrapping the requirement for a dedicated, safety driver.

Trials involving self-driving cars without a human driver overseeing the trip have only taken place in the United States - with none happening in Europe so far. The change will put the UK "at the forefront of the technology", according to the Department for Transport.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "Today we are updating our guidance on automated vehicle trials, cementing the UK's position as a world leader in the development and testing of this innovative technology."

The Counterclaim

However, The Verge argues that you should not believe the hype: driverless cars will not be racing around UK roads this year.

It is more complicated than the headlines are "squealing". The trials of self-driving cars are already happening, but it will still take a while for fully operational driverless cars to hit the roads.

They argue: "If you're picturing the car in your garage driving you everywhere from congested urban streets to rural roads without needing to put a human hand on the wheel, that's some time away."

There are annual headlines that proclaim self-driving cars will soon be fully operational, but it is "cart-before-the-horse stuff", claims the Verge. While it keeps the discussion moving about the advances in the technology, it simply does not exist yet.


One of the current requirements is that the driverless cars should be roadworthy, but there are concerns that unfinished technology will hit the roads before it is properly tested.

Christian Wolmar, author of 'Driverless Cars: On a Road to Nowhere', told The Verge: "We should tread much more carefully because politicians might be tempted to push through the safety procedures before [cars are] ready. And then we get what happened in Arizona."

He is referring to the Uber crash in Arizona last March, where a self-driving car killed pedestrian Elaine Herzberg as she was crossing the street.

The Facts

The government expects fully operational self-driving cars to hit UK roads by 2021. It is predicted that that the industry will be worth £52billion to Britain in the next 15 years.

A £30million fund was launched by the government last year to support advances in the technology and the companies developing driverless systems. They set aside £5 million to be awarded to projects building cars that can park themselves.

There are six levels of automation in cars, ranging from no automation to fully automated, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers. The lower levels include technologies such as adaptive cruise control and lane changing modes, which have been around for a few years.

The third level has only been achieved by one production car, so far: the Audi A8. It uses "conditional automation", where it can drive by itself on certain roads - but the driver must remain behind the wheel and alert.

Levels four and five are when a car is mostly or fully autonomous. These levels are the ones that the UK government aspires to, but they are still a few years away.

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