Driverless car technology: En route to real-world autonomy

An ambitious real-world trial on the streets of Coventry and Milton Keynes is helping to put the UK at the forefront of driverless and connected car technology. Jon Excell reports. 

The driver of the car stuck in front of us is getting angry. If only we’d acknowledged his subtle blend of hand-gestures and nods, done the decent thing and backed up a couple of metres, he could have performed his illegal (although not particularly dangerous) U-turn and been on his way. But we don’t budge. And no amount of gesticulating is going to persuade us to. That’s because our driver isn’t like most drivers. Our driver is a robot. And robots like to stick to the rules, even if it means annoying their fellow road users.

And as he screeches off into the Milton Keynes rush-hour, his parting expletive ringing in our ears, our furious fellow-traveller leaves us with an illuminating reminder that while driverless car technology may be advancing rapidly, smoothly integrating it into society is another challenge altogether.