Google could trial driverless cars in London

Government officials have been in 'active discussions' with Google

A self-driving car traverses a parking lot at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California (NOAH BERGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Google could trial its driverless cars in London in the near future.

It would be the first time the vehicles would be tested extensively outside the US by Google.

Deputy Mayor for Transport Isabel Dedring has been meeting with Google representatives about the proposed scheme.

She said: "It's going to have to work in big cities so why don't we start trialling it now? Google have said they are focused on the States, but they're starting to think about going elsewhere so we're in active discussions.

"We met them a few weeks ago to see whether they would do trials here."

"It is still very early days but we would be keen for trials to happen in London whenever Google are ready to move them into other countries."

Driverless cars have been looked on favourably by the government. Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced that £20 million will be allocated to the development of infrastructure supporting driverless cars.

In addition, in a report from February 2015, Claire Perry MP said that driverless cars had the potential to deliver "major benefits for road safety, social inclusion, emissions and congestion."

In the US driverless cars have clocked up over 1.4 million miles in test drives in California and Texas, which have been going on since 2009.

As of July 2015, there had only been 14 accidents involving driverless cars, the Telegraph reports, all of them caused by human drivers.