Driverless Cars Are Coming To Britain's Public Roads In 2015

Driverless cars are coming to British roadways in 2015, according to The Guardian. 

The UK solidified its interest in autonomous vehicles Wednesday, when it announced the establishment of a multimillion-pound research fund and plans to review relevant laws around road safety. 

A £10 million ($16.9 million) fund will be made available for driverless car researchers in the UK, joint funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) and the Department for Transport (DfT), business secretary Vince Cable said.

The Technology Strategy Board will determine how the fund is spent, including which local research institutions will be awarded funds once they've applied. Three to-be-named cities will host the driverless cars.

"The excellence of our scientists and engineers has established the UK as pioneers in the development of driverless vehicles through pilot projects," said Cable. "Today's announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than six months, putting us at the forefront of this transformational technology and opening up new opportunities for our economy and society."

Reviews of the Highway Code and the Road Safety Act will be conducted to permit the testing of driverless cars on public roads, Cable said.

The necessary changes will allow for two types of testing, according to The Guardian: fully autonomous cars without a driver, and those with a qualified driver who could take control at any time, similar to laws in the US where driverless cars have been tested on public roads since 2011 in some states. 

An announcement like this might seem like a jolt into the future, but driverless cars are something many in the UK have already invest time and research and development in.

Groups already working on driverless car technology include engineers at the University of Oxford and engineering firm Mira, which provides autonomous vehicle technology to the military and has been testing driverless cars on a 850 acre site in the Midlands, according to The Guardian.

"Today's announcement takes us closer to seeing fully autonomous vehicles on our roads but it will take some time for them to become commonplace," said Edmund King president of the AA.