Jakarta Globe – AFP, Feb 12, 2015
London.
Britain gave the green light on Wednesday for the testing of futuristic
driverless cars on public roads in a multi-million-pound government scheme,
with officials saying it would help boost safety.
”We are
launching officially four trials of semi-autonomous vehicles, the first step on
the route to driverless technology,” Transport Minister Claire Perry told AFP
at the unveiling of a prototype driverless car in Greenwich, southeast London.
”It’s very
good for road safety. Right now 93 percent of accidents are caused by driver
error. It also has the opportunity to free up people’s time, to give us extra
time in our days. And the other opportunity is to use the road capacity
better.”
Under the
project, the government has appointed three consortia to develop four prototype
driverless vehicles.
Greenwich
is one of three driverless car project centres funded by the £19-million
($28.9-million, 25.6-million-euro) scheme. The other projects are in Coventry
and Milton Keynes in central England, and in Bristol in the southwest.
Business
Secretary Vince Cable said the initiative would seek to ensure Britain is a
world leader in what was expected to be a £900-billion industry by 2025.
”In order
for this to work, there has to be public acceptance, people to have complete
confidence that they’re safe and the regulation and the insurance principles
operates and so that is happening in parallel with technological development,”
Cable told AFP.
Agence France-Presse
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