Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made on pilot schemes of driverless cars.

Following the Innovate UK competition, ‘Introducing Driverless Cars to UK roads’ in July last year three exciting world leading projects, UKAutodrive, Venturer and GATEway, are now underway and making good progress.

The Government-backed Milton Keynes driverless Pathfinder pods have been incorporated into the UKAutodrive project. They were demonstrated recently at the ITS World Congress in Bordeaux and attracted a great deal of international attention. Venturer, based in Bristol is delivering important insights around situational awareness, a key area for autonomous systems. The GATEway project will evaluate the integration and acceptance of automated vehicles in the real world.