Google's Driverless Cars May Go To London

Google self-driving Lexus RX 450h in Kirkland, Washington — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google’s self-driving cars are crossing the Atlantic. According to reports from the Guardian, transport officials in London are in “active discussions” with the Silicon Valley firm to make the British capital one of the trial cities for its autonomous technology. If it happens, London would become the first non-U.S. city (and one of the few, period) to play host to these self-driving cars. And if Google really is planning on world domination, then hopping over the pond seems like a logical move anyway.

The self-driving cars project, which first began back in 2009, has made considerable strides and the vehicles have been tested thus far in the streets of Mountain View, California, Austin, Texas, and soon, Kirkland, Washington. “It’s going to have to work in big cities, so why don’t we start trialling it now?” asked Isabel Dedring, the U.K.’s deputy mayor for transport. “Google have said they are focused on the US, but they’re starting to think about going elsewhere, so we’re in active discussions.”

“We met them a few weeks ago to see whether they would do trials here,” Dedring continued. “It is still very early days, but we would be keen for trials to happen in London whenever Google are ready to move them into other countries.”

According to recent estimates, Google’s cars have already logged some 1.4 million miles on the road, and still maintain a perfect driving record (at least in that no accidents have been caused by the cars themselves). Of course, that said, the perfection of autonomous cars is a bit of double-edged sword. It is their inability to break the law and their strict adherence to traffic regulations that may actually make them “dangerous,” which is why further tests are clearly needed before they can be rolled out en masse.

Interestingly enough, Dedring herself notes that she’s “personally a bit sceptical about the technology,” adding, “If you’ve got a traffic jam full of driverless cars, that is not better than a traffic jam full of drivers.”

Still, having the technology available could be a net benefit, she says. “They’re much safer as the computer controls the distance at which driverless cars drive and their speed,” the deputy mayor noted. “The likelihood of accidents goes down very substantially.”

So who knows — we may very soon have some American technology driving on the wrong side of the road in Great Britain.

Editors’ Recommendations