Driverless cars

Reporter: Bumper to bumper, blood pressure rising, traffic jams are a daily headache for most drivers. So just imagine this, jumping into one of these pods, whizzing to the town centre in special lanes, without the traffic, maybe reading a newspaper as you travel. There’s just one catch: there’s no driver. It may sound futuristic but by 2015 this will be reality in Milton Keynes, with the government putting 1.5 million towards these driverless cars.

Member of the public 1: So you just get into a driverless car, is that what you are saying?

Member of the public 2: That’s a bit Total Recall!

Member of the public 3: If it were safe then, yeah, I’d use one.

Member of the public 4: If they came to my house I’d use one. The buses are a bit naff, so …

Reporter: Initially, twenty pods will run between the station and the centre of Milton Keynes; that’ll rise to a hundred by 2017. They’ll travel at speeds of around 12 miles an hour and will drive on the pavement, using sensors to avoid crashing into people.

Car: Autodriving.

Reporter: Google has already introduced driverless cars to California. They’ve driven more than 400,000 miles without a major crash – proof, it’s claimed, the UK’s pods can also be safe.

Pod developer Jon Beasley: We’ll start them initially actually with driving, so people will be driving them to start with, so that people can get used to actually seeing them on the particular pathways and they can get used to interacting with them and not be frightened by them and have confidence that they are actually safe to work with.

Reporter: Letting go of the wheel is a huge step for many, but if they take off it is hoped these pods will cut traffic, pollution and hopefully driver stress. Siobhan Robbins, Sky News.

© Sky News