It’s been more than four decades since TV audiences were first introduced to Knight Rider, its leather-clad star David Hasselhoff, and his sidekick: a haughty, self-driving Pontiac called KITT.
This means 40-odd years in which autonomous vehicles’ (AVs) potential has loomed large in our imaginations. Clearly, the future is yet to arrive. But unlike nuclear fusion, cryonics, and teleportation, the technology has now existed for two decades and could soon be rolled out.
Domestically, British Knight Rider fans may finally get a taste of the automated thing from 2026, when the government expects the first AVs on UK roads. The Automated Vehicles Act, which last year passed into law, is intended to aid the technology’s deployment, reduce collisions caused by human error, and jump-start an industry “estimated to be worth up to £42bn by 2035”. Cue warm words from self-driving start-ups Oxa and Wayve, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.