It may take until 2020 for you to be able to hail your own driverless car, but a test drive in the UK shows they’re coming soon.
Today, the town of Milton Keynes became the first place in the UK to test driverless cars in live conditions. The Smart Car-sized vehicle drove a 1-kilometer loop around the train station, according to BBC News.
Engineered by the Oxford Robotics Institute and Oxbotica, the Lutz Pathfinder can drive 15 miles per hour and carry two passengers. It is a modest start, but could signify a larger shift toward driverless vehicles.
The designers hope to roll out a 40-car fleet of Pathfinder pods that will navigate pedestrian areas, looking like golf carts designed by George Lucas.
The UK government hopes that driverless cars will be on the road and available to the public by 2020. It has modified existing insurance rules and motoring regulations to make it easier for driverless cars to operate, the BBC reports.
Driverless cars are being tested in the US, China, and Sweden. The Obama administration has advocated for automated cars, and recently released a series of guidelines for driverless cars. Private companies — among them Audi, BMW, Ford, and Toyota — have also put skin in the game.
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The potential safety and environmental impacts of driverless cars on a larger scale are tremendous. But much of the success of the emerging technology will be dependent on how driverless cars are used.
TIME reports that, “Automated vehicles could reduce energy consumption in transportation by as much as 90%, or increase it by more than 200%.”
This is a huge range. Part of the uncertainty regarding the efficiency of driverless cars comes from questions about how driverless cars will be used.
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The technology could make car travel much easier and more direct than public transit, and increase the amount of people relying on cars. But because they have less built-in safety equipment, driverless cars are significantly lighter than regular cars and therefore more energy efficient. Companies like Lyft and Uber are also envisioning driverless cars for carpooling purposes.
Jeffery Greenblatt, an energy researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told Scientific American that “autonomous vehicles can accelerate or enable the greater use of electric,” making them better for the planet.
The Lutz Pathfinder, which is electric-powered, is a prime example of the potential for lightweight, energy efficient vehicles. For such a small car, it could pack a huge environmental punch.