British companies will test driverless cars on UK roads from 2019, after receiving backing from the government for a 30-month trial starting from this month.A consortium named Driven group plans to try out a fleet of autonomous vehicles between London and Oxford. The cars will communicate with each other about any hazards and should operate with almost full autonomy.
All previous tests of driverless vehicles in the UK have mainly taken place at slow speeds and not on public roads. The consortium is led by Oxbotica, which makes software for driverless vehicles. Founder Prof Paul Newman, of Oxford University said: “We’re moving from the singleton autonomous vehicle to fleets of autonomous vehicles — and what's interesting is what data the vehicles share with one another, when, and why.”
