Greenwich roads will become the trial location for driverless technology this summer, with adapted Heathrow Airport shuttle pods being used as the first test vehicles.

The pods, which look like small automated train carriages and are currently being used at Heathrow Terminal 5, will be adapted to work without dedicated tracks.

A consortium of British firms, including Westfield Sportscars, Heathrow Enterprises and Oxbotica, will work together to make the pods into "fully driverless shuttles" in one of three pilots in the area.

The trial aims to assess the public's willingness to use autonomous vehicles in built-up areas, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) said.

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Professor Nick Reed, academy director at TRL and technical director for Gateway, said: "The addition of three prominent and respected British organisations to the Gateway consortium further strengthens the UK's position as a leader in autonomous technologies.

"Each company brings a great deal of experience to the project which will prove valuable in helping us to understand how the public and industry will adapt to the use of automated vehicles in the UK Smart Mobility Living Lab test environment in Greenwich.

"If the trials prove successful, we expect these iconic vehicles to become a familiar sight in many cities around the world."

The £8m Gateway project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) has been jointly funded by Innovate UK and the industry.