A driverless Range Rover Sport concept car has been developed as part of a £20 million Government-backed project aimed at keeping the UK in the fast lane when it comes to autonomous automotive design and innovation.

The Range Rover Sport concept is a fully autonomous car that can safely negotiate traffic lights, T-junctions, roundabouts and approaching emergency vehicles, and it could be on the open road within a matter of months.

The Sport is among a number of high-tech concept cars being put through their paces this week at the Horiba Mira testing track in the Midlands before full driverless road trials later this year.

Jaguar Land Rover’s Autonomous Urban Drive technology brings the UK car-manufacturer  a step closer to “level four” autonomy.

Level four is the holy grail of driverless car manufacture – where vehicles can safely travel through towns and negotiate hazards with zero driver intervention.

It pitches the English manufacturer in a race with the German giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz to deliver complete road tested and safety approved vehicle autonomy.

Adrian Flux, the forward thinking motor insurance expert which already offers a driverless car policy, understands two types of technology are being demonstrated at Horiba Mira: autonomous drive where the car drives itself, and connected drive, where vehicles use wifi to communicate with each other and with electronic road signals.

Jaguar Land Rover’s connected drive research is a collaboration with Ford and Tata Motors’ European Technical Centre.

Jaguar Land Rover is developing both fully and semi-autonomous vehicle technologies so motorists can decide for themselves between being driven completely by the car, or being in ultimate control themselves – albeit with some pretty impressive additional hi-tech safety features.

After this week’s trials, tests on restricted public roads will take place before the end of the year in Milton Keynes and Coventry. If all goes according to plan, open road trials will be held early next year.