Watch: Bill Gates, on the hunt for fish & chips, rides around London in a driver-less car

Bill Gates recently took a car drive on the streets of London, but his car wasn't being driven either by him or another driver. Gates was in a self-driving car and talked about the "surreal" and "memorable" experience in his blog. The autonomous vehicle, which Gates says is the future of driving, has been developed by British tech start-up Wayve. Gates wrote in his blog Hands Off The Wheel: The Rules Of The Road Are About To Change that the “day is coming sooner rather than later” when humans will hand over the control of our vehicles to machines.

Gates was impressed by the car's ability to navigate through traffic, despite what he called “one of the most difficult driving environments imaginable”.

His car also had a safety driver who took the reins on a few occasions and he was also accompanied by Wayve's CEO and founder, Alex Kendall.

He wrote that Wayve's car has a slight edge over other autonomous vehicles. “While a lot of AVs can only navigate on streets that have been loaded into their system, the Wayve vehicle operates more like a person. It can drive anywhere a human can drive," Gates wrote.

The car relies on deep learning techniques to drive around, just like a human being would while driving a car. "The algorithm learns through examples, utilising knowledge gained from extensive real-world driving and simulations to analyse its surroundings and react in real-time," he wrote.

“The result was a memorable ride. The car drove us around downtown London, which is one of the most challenging driving environments imaginable, and it was a bit surreal to be in the car as it dodged all the traffic," Gates, who was on a hunt for some fish and chips, wrote.

Gates says that while AVs are the future, with General Motors, Honda, and Tesla already in the race, there is a lot that needs to be considered before the transition happens. "Factors such as the scope of coverage of car insurance, and the current state of vehicular laws as well as roadway networks may have to be recalibrated to include AVs," he wrote.

Gates feels the transition to AVs is likely to take decades, especially since people aren't going to be too eager to sit in a car without a steering wheel.

However, looking at the way technology has evolved and people have accepted it in various arenas, he is hopeful that it will surely happen one day.

“Humanity has adapted to new modes of transportation before. I believe we will do it again. For most of our existence, we relied on natural ways of getting around," he wrote.

"In the 1700s, we entered the locomotion age when mobility was powered by steam engines and internal combustion. Now, we find ourselves in the early days of the autonomous age. It's an exciting time, and I can't wait to see what new possibilities it unlocks,” he wrote.

(With inputs from agencies)

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