A two-seater driverless electric vehicle traveling at 1km has been trialled on the pavements of Milton Keynes.
The team behind the project aim to bring a fleet of 40 ‘pods’ to the streets for public use next year.
Programme director Neil Fulton said: “This public demonstration represents a major milestone for autonomous vehicles in the UK and the culmination of an extensive project involving UK companies and experts.”
The autonomy software running the vehicle, called Selenium, was developed by Oxford University’s Oxford Robotics Institute and integrated by Oxford University spinout company Oxbotica.
It uses data from cameras and LIDAR systems to navigate.
The government hopes to lead the way on the development of driverless car technology and earlier this year launched a consultation on changes to insurance rules and motoring regulations to allow driverless cars to be used by 2020.
It said it would allow such vehicles to be tested on motorways from next year.