Driverless cars could be on UK roads by 2026, says a government minister.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper has teased that self-driving vehicles could start being used across the country in two years – following in the footsteps of places like California – and even mentioned the possibility that drivers could be able to focus on other tasks while they are at the wheel.
The politician told BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today,’ “The legislation is going through parliament at the moment, so hopefully we’ll get that through parliament by the end of 2024.
“Probably by as early as 2026 people will start seeing some elements of these cars that have full self-driving capabilities being rolled out.”
Mark emphasized the tech – pioneered by the likes of Elon Musk’s Tesla – can “improve safety on the roads” and it would be brought in “gradually” and be a matter of personal choice.
“It has a huge number of potential uses, the obvious one is 88 percent or so of road traffic collisions we see today are caused by driver error of some description,” he said.
“There is a real potential for this sort of technology to actually improve safety on the roads, not just for drivers, not just for passengers, but for other vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists – to really improve road safety, which is a real win for everybody.”
However, not everyone is convinced. Charles Nolan, the director of Ford BlueCruise, argued that the nation’s Transport head might be getting ahead of himself as the ability was “certainly not there now”.
“I think there is a way to go,” he told the ex “Top Gear” star James May. “In my view, the technology would need to evolve, the software would need to evolve, and the regulation would need to evolve. And then the final part of it is customer acceptance, and ability to pay would need to evolve.” Charles added to the broadcaster.
