In an attempt to tackle the problem of congestion, scientists at the Mobile Robotics department at the University of Oxford - in collaboration with defence contractor BAe Systems and carmaker Nissan - have created a hands-free robot car!

The £2 million prototype, called `Wildcat' was recently unveiled by the Oxford University scientists. The robot car "sees" the surroundings 40 times a second by interpreting data from cameras, radar and lasers; and then manoeuvres itself along the safe surfaces, avoiding other vehicles as well as pedestrians.

According to the `Wildcat' creators, the technology used in the vehicle will not only be able to tackle traffic congestion, but will also bring about an improvement in the quality of the road users' life by "getting back some of their day."

In the opinion of the `Wildcat' project leader Professor Paul Newman, the breakthrough apparently marks just the beginning of a technological revolution in which smart robots will be helpful while driving and performing several other activities.

Since the sensors on the automatically-driven `Wildcat' can pinpoint its exact location and respond safely to its environment, Prof Newman is convinced that on-board computer capacity is set to have a notable effect on motoring.

Drawing a parallel with the tremendous effect that computers have had in transforming the offices completely, Prof Newman said that the same thing will happen happen on the roads in the future, with autonomous robotic vehicles getting people "safely and efficiently from A to B whilst taking the load off their human drivers."