Robotic cars will appear on UK roads this year

British scientists officials gave the "green" light to cars with an autonomous control system. Permission to use such cars has already been given, and testing the "behavior" of robotic cars on the roads of the country is scheduled for the end of this year. The transport department, or rather, representatives of this department, showed confidence that cars with an autonomous control system will be able to reduce traffic congestion, plus increase the level of safety of road users. It is worth noting that in the UK they allocate as much as 50 billion pounds to update the road system, and the project with robotic cars is part of the general plan.

In the USA, similar cars are already allowed in some states (and not for the test, but in a general sense). In California, autonomous cars can appear on public roads without any problems. In addition to California, the same situation is in the states of Florida, Nevada, possibly Michigan, in the near future. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also urges other states to allow autonomous vehicles.

Automakers, realizing that such cars may well become a common mode of transport in the near future, create their own models. Nissan, Audi, Toyota have already introduced their own cars that can move on roads without human intervention. The pioneers in this area were Google Corporation, whose representatives believe that the commercial use of a new type of transport will begin in 3-5 years.

Now the autonomous car control system is mainly used not for a complete “autopilot”. Automakers so far consider autonomy only as a fallback when something goes wrong with the participation of a human driver. If something happens (for example, the driver fell asleep, or is bad for him, or has lost control for another reason), the computer takes control and tries to eliminate the dangerous situation.

Perhaps in the future, with the advent of a large number of “smart” cars on the roads, the latter will be able to exchange data, which will make it possible to make driving on the road practically safe.

Via theverge