All Things Technology

Last year, the UK government allowed the testing of autonomous or self-driving cars on public roads. But it did not announce the locations where these robotic cars would be tested. But on Wednesday, the names of the cities to host the testing of driveless cars was revealed by UK Chancellor George Osbone in his Autumn statement. The cities are: Bristol, Greewich, Coventry and Milton Keynes.

These cities were picked to be used for the testing of autonomous vehicles after winning a competition to be testing grounds for driveless cars, which they received £10 million in funding, although an additional £9 million was later put into the project owing to volume of applications they received. For instance,Bristol in particular received £5 million for this project.

Now each region has its own separate role to play. For example, Greenwich will test automated shuttle vehicles under the Gateway scheme and will be led by Transport Research Laboratory.

Bristol will host the Venturer Consortum to examine if self-driving cars can indeed make British roads safer
and be able to reduce traffic congestion. ''They will also investigate the insurance implications of driverless vehicles and study the public’s response to the technology. The hilly city’s challenging terrain will also allow engineers to see how the cars cope with busy, winding roads.''



Carmakers Jaguar Land Rover and Ford, Arup and others will test driveless cars on public roads and self-driving pods, very similar to the ones seen at London's Hearthrow airport that takes passengers to and fro. They will conduct this test under the UK Autodrive programme .
The test will begin on January 1 and will take between 18 months and three years.