Mayor Andy Street found some time away from the Conservative Party Conference to go for a ride in a driverless car along Birmingham's Broad Street on Monday (October 1).
Manufacturers RDM were trialling their vehicle outside the conference, with several members of the public stepping forward to go for a ride as well as Mr Street.
The mayor has been vocal in his support for the development of the driverless technology in the past. It was announced earlier this year that the West Midlands would become the host of the UK's first driverless cars testbed.
A spokesman for the company believes that the more public engagement the product can have, the better.
"We're one of six global producers of pods of this kind, two of which are actually in the West Midlands," he said.
"So we've got this one, which is the RDM in Coventry, and we've also got Westfield which is in Stourbridge.
"So this pod itself is a four seater, and it's a bit of a unique shape but it's made that way for a reason. It's so that you remember it. So we could make it look like a standard vehicle but then it wouldn't be so in your face.
"So it has a range of about 80 km, a top speed of 25 kmh, which is about 15 or 16 mph, and this sort of environment we run them at about 8 mph.
"That's because of the on-board safety features. So because it is a real-world environment test, there is nothing stopping me from walking straight out in front of it. But if I were to do so at 25kph, the stop would be quite violent, and obviously we don't want to give people whiplash.
"Tthe RDM pods are currently going through a UK auto-drive project.
"In terms of the West Midlands, this is the first of its kind. And we're keen to try and get more of an engagement to get more trials going.
"But the technology is here, the future of transport is here, we just need public buying. It's a really exciting time in transport, especially in the West Midlands."
