Driverless Cars On Britain Roads

• Technology is being developed in Britain to rival Google's driverless car
• Science minister David Willetts tells MailOnline new laws will be needed
• He's in talks with Department for Transport about rewriting rules of the road
• Google car will not have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal

New laws are to be drawn up to allow driverless cars to take to Britain’s roads.

Ministers admit the current Highway Code and rules of the road are inadequate for the new generation of vehicles which pilot themselves.

With technology being developed on both sides of the Atlantic, the government wants to ensure that Britain is not overtaken by Google’s drive to see its cars used legally on the streets of California.

Last month Google unveiled its computerised ‘hands-free’ self-driving bubble car, which has no steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedals, just buttons for start, pull over and emergency stop and a computer screen showing your route.

Google plans to have prototypes ready to test later this summer and says the goal is for the car to ‘shoulder the entire burden of driving’.

A prize fund of £10million will soon be launched in the UK for a whole town or city to develop as a test site for consumer testing of driverless cars.

Science minister David Willetts told MailOnline that he is already in talks with the Department for Transport about rewriting the law to allow cars on to UK highways without anyone in the driving seat.

’We are one of the world leaders in this,’ the Tory minister declared.

Science minister David Willetts said he wanted to make sure Britain is not left behind in the race to get driveless cars on the road

A British version of a driverless is being developed in Oxford, but Google have so far clocked up more road miles with their version.

’There is British technology, and it's a lot cheaper than the Google technology,’ Mr Willetts said.

’But whereas the Google car, they have notched up more miles, so we have got to ensure that the British has its own opportunity to get tested in a wider range of environments and that's what we are working on with the department for transport.

’But the technology is being developed at Oxford as we speak.’

Even in the US self-piloting cars are only allowed on the roads if someone sits in the ’driver’s seat’. 

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is expected to start granting licences to certain driverless cars and their human co-pilots as soon as September.

Mr Willetts said: ’You need a regulatory regime so that these are permitted.

’What America is going to have is a legal regime in California that permits you to travel in one without requiring someone in the so-called drivers seat.

’Certainly there are new regulations being drafted in California and obviously this is something I have discussed with the Department for Transport, we are aware of it.

’We need to work on these type of regulations so that as the technology develops in Oxford and elsewhere we can see them used.’

The government’s infrastructure plan commits to reviewing the law to ’ensure there is a clear and appropriate regime for the testing of driverless cars that supports the world’s car companies to come hand test them here.’

Britain will also benefit from recent changes to the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic, which dates back to 1968.

It used to state: 'Every driver shall at all times be able to control his vehicle or to guide his animals.'

An amendment agreed last month would allow a car to drive itself, as long as the system 'can be overridden or switched off by the driver'.

A driver must be present and able to take the wheel at any time.

The convention covers European countries, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Russia, although not the United States, Japan or China.

Google says its prototype driverless car has been given a ‘friendly’ face to give a non-threatening appearance and help the public accept the new technology.

The front of the vehicle has a soft foam-like material where a traditional bumper would be and a more flexible windscreen, in a bid to be safer for pedestrians.

Speed is restricted to 25mph and the ability to self-drive will depend on specifically designed Google road maps tested on the company’s current fleet of vehicles.

This works by using GPS technology to locate the vehicle’s exact position on an electronic map. 

A combination of radar, lasers and cameras sitting on top of the roof give the car a 360-degree ‘view’, with sensors linked to computer software able to ‘see’ and identify people, cars, road signs and markings and traffic lights.