The public has been invited to register to participate in the UK’s first public driverless vehicle trials, which is slated to take place later this year in The Royal Borough of Greenwich.

This is a part of an £8m research project, called Greenwich Automated Transport Environment (GATEway).

This research project, led by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) and taking place at Smart Mobility Living Lab, will study the use, perception and acceptance of driverless vehicles on roads.

Those members of the public selected to take part in the trials will have to provide their views about the experience of driving in an autonomous vehicle.

TRL director and GATEway project technical lead Professor Nick Reed said: "The move to automated vehicles is probably the most significant change in transport since the transition from horse drawn carriages to motorised vehicles.

"The move to automated vehicles is probably the most significant change in transport since the transition from horse drawn carriages to motorised vehicles."

"Testing these vehicles in a living environment, like the UK Smart Mobility Living Lab, takes the concept from fiction to reality.

"It gives the public a chance to experience what it’s like to ride in an automated vehicle and to make their own mind up as to how much they like it, trust it and could accept it as a service in the city."

Besides participating in physical vehicle trials, members of the public can also take part in workshops on how the future of driverless vehicles would be.

Participating members of the public will also have an opportunity to take part in creative activities with designers and researchers from the Royal College of Art, which is a GATEway partner.