According to the UK boss of the insurance firm Axa, the strain on energy suppliers and lack of charging points are the biggest barriers to autonomous vehicles entering the transport mainstream.

There is around 125,000 plug-in electric cars in the UK and 14,000 chargers – 2,620 of them can give a car 80% charge in half an hour, according to The Guardian.

A Tesla driver called Blanc revealed to The Guardian: “In three to four years’ time when more people are buying electric, you do not want to have to queue for your supercharger. The infrastructure has to be fixed.”

Being smarter about renewables

“If suddenly everyone’s got an electric car I’m not sure how the National Grid is going to cope with that.

“If in the Coronation Street break everyone goes to put the kettle on and that causes problems, just imagine what will happen if everybody comes home from work at 6 o’clock and switches their cars on to charge.

”We have to be smarter about renewables and regenerating electricity. That’s a real challenge.”

Axa is involved in a variety of self-driving car trials funded by the government, including Venturer and Autodrive.

Written by Leah Alger