Volvo wants families to cruise around London in its driverless cars
The Swedish car giant said in a press release on Wednesday that its "Drive me London" experiment will be different to other autonomous vehicle tests because it will include "real families" in autonomous cars on public roads.
Drive Me London will begin in early 2017 with a handful of semi-autonomous driving (AD) cars before expanding in 2018 to include up to 100 AD cars, making it the largest and most extensive autonomous vehicle programme on Britain's streets.
"Autonomous driving (AD) represents a leap forward in car safety," said Håkan Samuelsson, president of Volvo Cars, in a statement.
"The sooner AD cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved."
The trials - to be carried out on on undisclosed streets across London in adapted Volvo XC90s - have been endorsed by the UK government.
"Driverless cars will see our journeys become faster, cleaner and safer. The UK is leading the way in developing the technology needed to make this a reality thanks to our world-class research base and these types of trials will become increasingly common," said Sajid Javid, UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in a statement.
"Such advances in technology prove the fourth industrial revolution is just around the corner and our determination to be at the forefront is why we are attracting top names from across the globe for real-world testing."