 "UK to allow companies to test driverless cars on motorways")
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will give the green light for driverless cars to be tested on UK motorways, helping to make the technology available to consumers by the end of the decade.
The government also aims to remove regulatory barriers so that driverless cars can be used on British roads within the current parliamentary term, the Treasury said in a statement on Saturday. Trials will be held on local roads this year, with test drives allowed on motorways and strategic roads for the first time in 2017.
"At a time of great uncertainty in the global economy, Britain must take bold decisions now to ensure it leads the world when it comes to new technologies and infrastructure," Osborne said in a statement. "Driverless cars could represent the most fundamental change to transport since the invention of the internal combustion engine."
As automakers from Mercedes-Benz to BMW AG jostle to get driverless cars ready for the road, Osborne is hoping the announcement in Wednesday's Budget will help Britain tap into a global market forecast to be worth £900 billion ($1.3 trillion) by 2025.
While tests have already been carried out in the US and Germany, motorway trials are still in their infancy.
