The UK will become a world leader in testing driverless cars to ensure British-based manufacturers lead the way in developing the technology, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has pledged.

And the Government is to introduce legislation designed to deal with the question of who is to blame if a driverless car crashes.

A Bill will deal with the issue of insurance claims when a self-driving vehicle is involved in an accident.

The aim is to remove legal obstacles which prevent vehicles which drive themselves, known as intelligent or autonomous vehicles, from being tested on the streets of the UK.

Jaguar Land Rover is among firms investing millions into developing so-called autonomous vehicles..

Speaking to the Mail at Westminster, Mr Grayling said: “We will soon have a Bill that will do things like addressing the insurance issue for driverless cars.

“One of the issues as we develop driverless cars in this country is, if they crash who is responsible? if you are not driving the car, how can you be responsible if it’s driving itself?

“So we are going to be publishing legislation shortly that will clarify exactly how that should work in the UK.

“And I hope that will be part of giving us a good step ahead in terms of the regulatory environment for developing that technology in the UK.”

Legislation was likely to be introduced “in the next month or so,” he said.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling

The Transport Secretary said he did not expect driverless cars to appear on the UK’s roads overnight, but predicted a gradual process in which automation increased as new models were introduced.

“I dont think we’re going to wake up one morning and suddenly there are going to be driverless cars on the roads. It’s going to happen over time.

“So today, for example, you have some cars that can park themselves.

“The next generation of cars I think will stick in a lane on a motorway, and will brake automatically if the vehicle in front of you brakes, so that you are less likely to run into it.

“You will then start to get cars that can change lanes.

“The completely autonomous car where you can get in and read the paper is some way away.

“But over the next decade, almost every time a new generation of cars is released, a new model is released, it’s going to be one step further down the road.”

The Government wants the UK to be a world leader in the new technology, he said.

“We’ve got some really good technology in this country.

“Basically I want the UK to be seen internationally as a really good place to test this technology, so we will take sensible steps to make sure that’s possible without putting the public at risk.”

Manufacturers build 1.5 million cars in the UK each year and the industry has a turnover of £71.6 billion.

Jaguar Land Rover last year announced plans for a fleet of more than 100 research vehicles over the next four years to test autonomous and connected technology.