These driverless pods are the first autonomous vehicles to hit the streets of London.
The vehicles, which are already being used on tracks at Heathrow Airport, have been adapted for use in Greenwich from today onwards, for a period of three weeks. The consortium behind the trial said changes would be made so the pods didn't need to run on tracks. Created by tech firm Oxbotica, the shuttle pods can travel at speeds of up to 10mph and are controlled by a computer.
The shuttles are designed to carry four people, and have no steering wheel or pedals. So far, 5,000 members of the public have applied to take part in the trial - during which there will be a trained staff member on board to stop the pod if the need arises.
Seven of the electric pods will be placed on the tarmac of the Greenwich Peninsula, with routes likely to include residential streets and areas close to the O2 Arena.
Five cameras and three lasers will help it navigate a two-mile riverside path near London's O2 Arena, in order to tackle common problems on the road such as pedestrians and cyclists.
Chief executive Graeme Smith told the BBC that "It's been designed to be safe and fail-safe specifically in a pedestrianised environment."
Autonomous vehicles are being developed by a number of companies around the world, including Ford, Tesla, Google and - if rumours are true - Apple. And it isn't just self-driving cars and pods that are being developed. Switzerland is set to introduce nine-seater autonomous busses this year and driverless shuttles have already been tested on public roads in the Netherlands.
Greenwich is one of four areas in the UK where driverless vehicles are due to be trialled. Bristol, Coventry and Milton Keynes will also carry out trials later this year.
The pods have been used at Heathrow Terminal 5 for five years and, according to the people behind the project, have carried 1.5 million passengers and travelled 1.8 million miles on their set tracks.
Three companies are working on making the pods run on roads rather than tracks. Westfield Sportscars manufactured and tested the pods, Heathrow Enterprise having designed the software and Oxbotica providing mapping software and sensors.
This article was originally written in January 2016 and has since been updated.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
