RAC comments on today’s launch of the UK driverless cars trials

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “Today’s announcement is an important first step along the road to us seeing driverless cars become common place in the UK. But there is a significant way to go and the prospect of driverless vehicles entering service before the end of this decade looks ambitious.

“Motorists will need a lot of reassurance that the technology can be both reliable and safe enough to mean they are comfortable ceding control of a vehicle. This is before we have even started to consider important things like the impact on pedestrians and cyclists, or the implications on the insurance market.

“The Government would do well to produce a green paper or substantial weight of research that explains in detail the benefits to the public of the new technology, and a framework for its phased introduction beyond merely these trials. That way motorists could get a much clearer sense of what a driverless future could look like.”