Autonomous cars – the latest
For decades, the idea of a car that could drive itself was the stuff of science fiction. As early as the 1930s US giant General Motors created a vision for a self-driving car. But in a world devoid of computers there was never any prospect of this becoming a reality; that early concept relied on smart roads for guidance – another non-existent technology at the time. Fast forward eight decades and we still don’t have self-driving cars, or autonomous vehicles (AVs) as they’re now known. There’s plenty of talk about them though; the latest UK-based trials were announced only recently, but when will we be able to buy a self-driving car? Unfortunately nobody can say with any certainty, as there’s great debate over the likely timescales. Also, because they’ll cost lots to build, when they do arrive AVs will probably be available to lease only, rather than as an outright purchase.