Right now carmakers have had to mostly rely on private roads and test tracks in order to put their self-driving cars to the test, or like Google, they can get permission to test out self-driving cars on the roads. However it seems that soon, carmakers will have an entire island at their disposal to test their technology on.According to reports, it seems that the Isle of Man is working with carmakers in which they could potentially create some roads or portion of part of the island’s roads for self-driving car testing purposes. Phil Gawne, the transportation minister on the Isle of Man said, “We like to be innovative on the island. We like also to be independent. This helps both those areas in terms of our international image and reputation.”
This idea is supported by David Alexander, an analyst at Navigant Research who claims that islands could make for perfect testing grounds, plus the money that companies would bring to the island in investments would no doubt be welcome. “Things can be tried on an island that may not be practical in a city. On the mainland there will always be someone who wants to go beyond the range of the trial and will then proclaim how useless autonomous cars are.”
Right now the island’s government has convened a group to weigh the pros and cons of the technology, and how this could impact them, but according to Gawne, they seem to be pretty receptive to the idea. “We’re very keen. We can see a lot of potential advantages for the island. It also helps in terms of the image of Isle of Man.”
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