Driverless Cars – A Long Way Down The Road

In 2014 Vince Cable announced a £10m government fund available for trials of driverless cars on public roads, commencing on 1st January 2015. Further, in May 2012, Nevada granted its first license to Google's 'Self-Driving Car'. Impressively, by the end of FY14 the car had driven 700,000 miles without a single accident. Meanwhile, other countries have unveiled other plans to road test either state or privately owned AVs (Automated Vehicles) – for example Italy, Japan, Singapore and Sweden. Nissan and Volvo have announced that partial AVs will be in production by 2020, with full autonomy to follow. Tesla Motors has gone one step further, announcing that by 2016 they will be selling a vehicle that is 90% automated. However, the industry has a long way to go, with many serious problems to face before the widespread manufacture of the first automated vehicle.