First driverless car appears on the streets of Britain... in Coventry

DRIVERS in a Midlands city may have had a shock recently after seeing a Range Rover cruising past – with nobody at the wheel.

But they can rest assured their eyes are not deceiving them. In the last few days, Coventry has been the testing ground for Jaguar Land Rover as it becomes the first British car manufacturer to try out driverless cars on public roads.

The modified Range Rover has been travelling around the city centre, with a safety driver ready to take the wheel in case of emergency. The car is driving a half-mile route, relying on sensors to react to traffic, pedestrians and signals. The safety

driver does not touch the controls at all, with the car ‘communicating’ with other vehicles as well as roads infrastructure such as traffic lights.

Seven ‘connected’ cars – a mixture of Range Rovers and Jaguar F-Paces – are also travelling on the same routes.

They are controlled by a driver who is given instructions by a computer. These can include telling the driver what speed to travel when they approach traffic lights, and whether it is safe to pull out at a blind junction.

It is the first time a UK-based car manufacturer has used such technology on the open road. JLR says it aims to produce self-driving cars within a decade. Chief executive Ralf Speth said: ‘We stand on the brink of a mobility revolution. The impact of the changes we are about to embrace will be huge across all sectors of the UK economy.’ The Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill is currently going through Parliament, with Transport Secretary Chris Grayling recently predicting that autonomous vehicles will be on Britain’s roads by 2021.