Volkswagen CEO expects autonomous cars 'ready for sale' before 2030

Volkswagen’s CEO has said that he expects autonomous vehicles to be ready for market between 2025 and 2030.

In an interview with the German weekly Wirtschaftswoche, Herbert Diess, the man steering the world’s biggest car maker by sales, said the improving performance of technology in self-driving cars and AI is speeding up the process.

“It is foreseeable that the systems will soon be able to master even the complex situations of autonomous driving,” he said.

Car-makers around the world have in recent years focused their efforts on building a viable driverless car.

Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, has said one such vehicle is “not far off.” In July he said that there are “no fundamental challenges remaining,” only “small problems.”

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Tests of the viability of bringing self-driving cars to roads are already underway in the UK. In October, trials started with six cars, as part of a government-backed research scheme called "Project Endeavour."

They were described as a "landmark" moment by Oxbotica, an Oxford-based company pioneering self-driving technology in the UK.

Oxford is believed to be the first city to hold trials in the UK ahead of tests in London and other unconfirmed cities.

Germany’s Ministry of Transport has also moved to draft legislation that would allow driverless vehicles to operate on the streets, not just in special test areas, as is currently the case.

In a draft document seen by Reuters news agency in October, the transport ministry wrote that “initially, driverless vehicles should be able to be deployed in defined operating zones,” which would give municipalities completely new opportunities for public transport.

Creating binding legal regulations around autonomous driving, which currently don’t really exist, is the next big step. One aspect would be what technical specifications the autonomous vehicles need to adhere to, as well as rules on where they can operate.

Overall, however, the transport ministry believes that driverless cars will be safer on the roads than those driven by people, noting that "the vast majority of all traffic accidents in Germany are based on human error."

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