Automakers urge governments to make conditions favourable for autonomous vehicle testing

UK provides funding and support as Volvo announces testing program

Volvo Cars has announced that it is to begin an autonomous driving test programme next year which it has described as the "most ambitious" currently underway. The programme, called 'Drive Me London', will begin in early 2017 with "semi-autonomous driving cars" and will expand 100 cars by 2018. Thiswill make it "the largest and most extensive AD (Autonomous Driving) testing programme on Britain's streets", according to Volvo. Thatcham Research will also provide technical data analysis and any professional test drivers needed as part of the trial. Unlike many of the test programmes that are currently under way in the country, Volvo intends to use "real families driving AD cars on public roads." It already has plans to conduct similar tests in Sweden and China.