British Government is Investing £19m for the driverless car Transport Minister Claire Perry is set to announce next week about the trials and use of Self-driving cars on British roads, following a 6 month study into the practical, legal and safety issues of driverless cars. Driverless cars are safer and neither get drunk, nor have accidents (the only exception was an accident to Google’s test fleet when a human was driving it). Motorists will not need a driving licence to use self drive or driverless cars. The report puts the government on course to fulfil its ambition to make Britian the world centre for self-driving cars. The UK is well placed to lead the development of these self drive cars.
According to the Department of Transport latest statistics on road accidents, there were 24,360 killed or seriously injured in (KSI) casualties in the year ending September 2014, a 4 per cent increase compared with the previous year. In addition, child KSI casualties rose by 3 per cent over this period. For the year ending September 2014, there were 192,910 reported road casualties of severity, 5 per cent higher than the 184,087 for the year ending September 2013.
Self-driving cars are one of the technology prodigies of this age. Less than a decade ago, DARPA, the US government’s department of military wizardry, offered a prize for the best driverless vehicle. The winner was Stanley, developed at Stanford University by a team led by German computer scientist Sebastian Thrun who was snapped up by Google, and developed the technology further so that half a dozen driverless Toyota Priuses have been quietly and safely driving around Silicon Valley for over two years. By sensing where other Self-driven cars are, they can drive faster without compromising safety. They can drop passengers off and park themselves. And of course they free people from the task of driving. So there won’t be any speeding or any illegal parking. This means at some time in the future, the government can scrap their parking meters, parking wardens, speed cameras and save millions of Pounds.