Nasty conditions on the roads today, so would you hand over the control of your car to a computer?

 

今天的路况很糟糕，那么你会把汽车的控制权交给一台电脑吗？

 

So, hands-free.

 

At a private test track, with no other traffic, I tried out the technology as if I was on a motorway¹.

 

Woah! So, that is a very strange feeling, especially for a control freak like me, but the car is driving itself. And it's following the lines. The lane that's there – it's swerving² around. My temptation is to touch it, but I'm not. This is really very odd. I've never done anything like this before.

 

At the moment, cars like this tell you to put your hands back on the steering³ wheel after fifteen seconds. But ministers [politicians] want to know if the technology is now reliable enough to let drivers go hands-free for extended periods of time.

 

It could actually save lives. It's estimated within a decade this kind of technology could save almost 4,000 lives.

 

The government will be consulting safety organisations and the industry, but what do drivers think?

 

Yeah, I do trust the technology. I [have] used most of what's been invented, but I don't like that humans don't have to keep an eye.

 

I think it's crazy to be fair, driverless cars – well, it's madness.

 

Ministers are not yet talking about entirely⁴ driverless cars, but if the UK goes further down the hands-free route it could still mean big changes for the law and insurance.

 

Back on the test track there's a lot to get used to, and for ministers a lot to consider.

 

Driving will certainly be different in the future - the question is how fast do we want things to change?

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