The UK Government is considering plans for driverless cars to hit the roads within four years.
The Department for Transport is reportedly considering allowing autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in the front seat.
If legislation was to pass prior to the next general election, driverless car companies could be operating commercial services to the public by 2027.
Technology companies have already voiced frustration at delays to laws that would allow them to run commercial driverless services, warning that they could move testing abroad as a result.
A spokesman for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on self-driving vehicles said: “Industry wants to see the Government introduce legislation in the King’s Speech and any failure to do so risks hitting investor confidence, setting back our competitive advantage in an area of cutting-edge technology and manufacturing.”
An unnecessary risk?
MPs have voiced concerns about the vehicles in the past, however.
They fear that mass damage could occur as a result of potential cyber attacks on them.
A round-the-clock taxi service delivered by autonomous vehicles was launched in San Francisco two months ago, though a host of failures has led to calls for their full introduction to be paused.
Around 600 incidents involving the vehicles have been logged since Spring 2022.
Whether they're introduced into the UK or not remains to be seen, with Rishi Sunak reportedly still considering proposals from departments to put forward in next month’s King’s Speech.