Britain to Allow Testing of Driverless Delivery Vehicles in Public Next Year

Jennifer van der Kleut

Especially during the chaotic holiday season, many can likely appreciate the idea of 24/7 package delivery from retailers.

It all may be possible soon. The Daily Mail reports that Britain has approved the testing of driverless delivery vehicles in public in 2016.

Britain has long been a front-runner in the driverless race. In 2015, several projects testing driverless vehicles on public roads have been running-Lutz Pathfinder pods by Jaguar Land Rover in Milton Keynes and Coventry; the self-drive project being led by the Transport Research Laboratory and RAC Foundation in Greenwich; and preparations are underway for testing a driverless BAE Wildcat vehicle and a pod in Bristol city centre.

Also, 5G technology is being developed at the University of Bristol, “offering dramatically more powerful internet access and the ability to transfer vast amounts of data more quickly,” reports the Telegraph. This could help push forward vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology for connected cars.