They have racked up more than a million miles on the roads of California and Texas. Now Google’s driverless cars could become a common sight on a different test track — the winding highways of the Isle of Man.
The self-governing crown dependency is drawing up radical plans to become the world-leader in the development of autonomous vehicles.
Politicians on the island are preparing legislation to allow driverless cars to be used on its streets. If approved, the proposal would put the island at least 12 months ahead of the British mainland, where similar legislation is unlikely to be passed until next year at the earliest.
Google, which has been developing driverless cars since 2009, is believed to have approached the Manx government with plans to hold the first tests of its vehicles outside America on the 221 sq mile island.
Allan Bell, the island’s chief minister, admitted last month that Google’s overtures were initially rejected by civil servants. He said that the company was told: “We don’t do things like that over here . . . we are perfectly fine as it is.”
The Manx authorities performed an about-turn this week and insisted that they were investigating the possibility of allowing driverless cars to share its roads with conventional vehicles.
The environment and infrastructure committee has launched a feasibility study of the reforms. A spokesman told The Times that trials could start tomorrow if a driver were in the vehicle to take over if any problems arose.
It is believed that any final adjustments to the island’s laws could be complete by early summer. The Manx government is also said to be in talks with other companies interested in bringing driverless cars to the island, which has a zero per cent corporate tax rate and income tax of 20 per cent.
The move could prove attractive to Google, the world’s most valuable company, which has been embroiled in a mounting row over its complex structure used to avoid hundreds of millions of pounds worth of UK corporation tax.
Google refused to comment last night on any link to the Isle of Man. But in an official statement, Mr Bell claimed that the island’s plans could put it above the US and countries such as Sweden in the race to develop driverless cars.
The island is already home to arguably the world’s most famous motorcycle race — the Isle of Man TT, which has been run since 1907. It also has a thriving online gaming industry.
Britain is already trying to overhaul the rules of the road to allow driverless cars to be tested on public highways. Ministers said last year they hoped that legislation — including the requirement for all vehicles to have a steering wheel and mirrors — could be redrafted by 2017.
Ben Gardner, a commercial law expert at Pinsent Masons, said the Isle of Man could have the edge because of its small size and less cumbersome legal framework.
“They’re pretty willing to push through legislative changes quickly and you can draw a comparison with the UK government which is committed to changing the law by summer 2017,” he said. “To be honest, that appears to be a very ambitious target because the UK’s road traffic law is pretty wide ranging. It is probably going to take much longer than that.”