Developers have been trying to create driverless cars since the 1920s. Numerous iterations have come into being and fallen away over the years - radio controlled cars, electronic guide systems buried into roads, lidar, radar, computer vision, but with the roll out of AI, we seem closer than ever to getting from A to B without having to touch the wheel.
In fact, in several places in the United States, Driverless Cars are already on the streets - albeit in a limited scope - ferrying users across the cities of Phoenix and San Francisco. And yet here in the UK? There are few autonomous vehicles in select locations, such as airports. But we’re unlikely to be hailing a cab without a driver in the near future? Why?
Aleks and Kevin are all set to find out. They’ll talk to Elaine Moore, who has been a frequent passenger in driverless cabs in San Francisco. Dr. Jack Stilgoe, leader of the Driverless Futures Project, and engineer Paul Newman who is developing autonomous vehicle software here in the UK. They’ll learn about the practical, legal, ethical and technical needs that autonomous vehicles will need to meet in order to function, how the fabric of cities might need to change for them to operate, and just how soon driverless cars will be able to safely operate on UK streets.
If you want to ask to answer your burning question on AI, please get in touch at theartificialhuman@bbc.co.uk