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UK will allow driverless cars on the roads

by on30 July 2014



So long as they are programmed to drive on the wrong side

The UK government is to outline measures to permit driverless cars to use public roads by next year.

The Department for Transport had previously pledged to allow self-driving cars to be trialled on public roads by the end of 2013 and in December, the Treasury said it would create a £10 million prize to fund a town or city to become a testing ground for the cars.

In his National Infrastructure Plan of 2013, Chancellor George Osborne said that "that the legislative and regulatory framework demonstrates to the world's car companies that the UK is the right place to develop and test driverless cars".

UK engineers, including a group at the University of Oxford, have been experimenting with driverless cars. But, concerns about legal and insurance issues have so far restricted the cars to private roads. Other countries have been swifter to allow autonomous cars on their public roads and Sweden appears to be the first in the EU. It says it wants 1000 cars on the road by 2016.

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