Would YOU feel safe to cross road in path of this self-driving Range Rover?
A PEDESTRIAN crosses the road yesterday – unaware that the Range Rover coming towards him is a selfdriving car cruising along a British public highway for the first time.
The scene was captured less than 48 hours after a driverless Uber vehicle killed a pedestrian in Arizona.
It also emerged yesterday that Toyota has suspended trials of autonomous cars on public roads in the US following Monday’s tragedy.
And Uber has cancelled testing in the country – but British car giant Jaguar Land Rover has pressed on.
The self-driving Range Rover Sport drove 2.7 miles through Milton Keynes yesterday before finding a parking space and returning to its starting point in a Government-funded trial. It is thought to be the first time a self-driving car has been used on open, public roads in Britain.
A self-driving Range Rover was tested in Coventry in November, but traffic restrictions were put in place on the half-mile route. This was also the case when Nissan tested a driverless car around London’s ExCel centre earlier last year. But there were no restrictions for the British test yesterday. Someone was in the driver’s seat, but his hands were not on the wheel as the Range Rover negotiated traffic, roundabouts and traffic lights.
The UK Government has said that self-driving cars will be on our roads by 2021.
But Professor Karen Yeung, a fellow in law, ethics and informatics at the University of Birmingham, said: ‘[The Uber] incident reveals the tension between this enthusiasm and UK citizens being essentially human guinea pigs who have not consented to what is – in essence – a scientific experiment on unproven technology with real people.’
A UK Autodrive project spokesman said: ‘The members of the UK Autodrive project are saddened by the news of a fatal accident involving a member of the public during Uber’s self-driving tests in the US. We must remain committed to doing everything we can to make our roads safer for all.’