The development of self driving cars promises to be one of the most significant innovations in transport of all time, and could have profound implications for the independence of disabled people. Google are currently developing and testing these autonomous, driver-free vehicles, straight out of a sci-fi film.

They work by having a roof mounted laser, which scans the surroundings of the car to create a 3D map, 200 feet in every direction. This is combined with high resolution maps of the world to produce two different types of data; one lets the car know about its surroundings, the other lets it know its location in the world. Combining these two data gives the car the necessary information to drive itself. To compliment these there are various sensors on the car that allow it to detect pedestrians, traffic lights and other obstacles.

The improvements this could have for the independent living of disabled people are huge. Those with visual impairments, those with physical impairments that restrict them from driving, and those that don’t have the energy or the dexterity to drive could all gain the freedom of the road that was previously unobtainable. Disabled people may no longer rely on carers, relatives or friends for a lift, instead becoming independent, and allowed the liberty to live their own life and travel their own journeys, should they choose. Likewise they may cease to be reliant on public transport for employment or other day to day activities. For example, the first man to test Google’s self driving car was a man called Steve Mahan, who is 95% blind. He travelled in the car to pick up his dry cleaning and for a trip to a Taco-Bell, and returned scratch free. “Best driving I’ve ever done” he observes in the video.

Of course this technology will not be available immediately, as it is still in development. There will also be major legal problems as states and countries begin to accept the cars, and meet legal problems such as who is liable in a crash. However, Google, Nissan, Volvo, Audi, GM, Ford and Toyota are all working on self-driving prototype cars and are determined not to miss out on this new technology. The roads of Nevada, California, Florida and now Milton Keynes in the UK all host testing of driverless cars.

The Google car has thus far completed over 300,000 driverless miles in California without a crash. Further, the use of driver aids is already widespread, and becoming more so. Cruise control, cars that park themselves and so on, are all on the road already. In September 2012, at the signing of a Californian bill allowing driverless cars to be tested on roads, Google co-founder Sergey Brin claimed that driverless cars will be available to the public in 5 years. Ambitious, but it signals how much closer driverless cars may be than you might have thought.