Self-driving cars could be on UK roads by 2026: Minister

File photo of cars queuing outside a petrol station in Reading, England, Sep 25, 2021.

Self-driving cars could be on some British roads by 2026, the country's transport minister Mark Harper said on Wednesday (Dec 27).

Cars with full self-driving technology are not currently permitted on Britain's roads but the government's Automated Vehicles (AV) legislation is going through parliament, meaning that a legal framework for them should be in place by the end of 2024, said Harper.

Critics of the technology, which has been trialled in the United States, say that the vehicles can cause crashes, and in California, regulators ordered General Motors' driverless car unit Cruise to remove its vehicles from state roads after an accident in October.

Britain's Harper said that the technology had the potential to improve road safety.