DRIVERLESS cars could soon be making their way up and down Hampshire's roads and motorways.

One of Hampshire's MPs has written to the Government asking them to start a new trial of autonomous vehicles in the region.

If Government ministers agree it could mean the vehicles are driving on the county's roads within two years.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced UK backing for the development of driverless cars, which are now due to be trialled in four areas of the country.

Experts from the University of Southampton are part of a team of British academics working on an £11million project to create new vehicles.

Volvo is among the manufacturers working on autonomous cars, some of which will take to the streets of London early next year while some believe they could be used on the UK's roads within a decade.

Southampton Itchen MP Royston Smith wants Hampshire to join London, Milton Keynes, Bristol and Coventry in Government-backed trials of the new vehicles within the next two years.

In a letter to Mr Osborne, Mr Smith wrote: "The introduction of autonomous vehicles could increase capacity on our road network while cutting down on the amount of accidents and improving air quality, a particular problem in Southampton.

"I know four English areas have been selected for trials however I would be grateful if you would consider other strategic road networks such as Southampton and the South Hampshire region as an ideal area to pilot the use of driverless cars."

He said: "If you don't ask you don't get, and I think it would be good for Southampton because there would be investment of sorts and the city would be put on the map.

"They are going to make our roads safer and put more capacity on them."

Driverless cars are due to feature in the Queen’s speech tomorrow, which will set out laws the Government hopes to bring forward in the next year.

The Department for Transport has said such cutting-edge technologies are crucial to the country’s economy and that its proposals will help deliver jobs.

Legislation will be introduced to enable driverless cars, already trialled in the UK, to be insured under ordinary policies.

The self-driving car market is currently growing at 16 per cent a year and could be worth up to £900billion worldwide by 2025.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “If we want to propel Britain’s economy into the modern age, and generate the jobs that will come with it, it is vital that the right rules are in place to allow new transportation to flourish. Having a long-term economic plan that really works for the country means putting in place legislation that puts us at the heart of the modern transport revolution.”

Jack Kushner, a spokesman for road safety charity Brake said the organisation supported driverless vehicles, adding: "Currently, 94 per cent of road deaths and injuries involve human risk and error, so we welcome the prospect of autonomous driving technology, which could be pivotal in preventing the five deaths and 61 serious injuries that occur on our roads every day."

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists Roadsmart, said the organisation supported the trials but also pointed to a recent survey in which 65 per cent of people said they believed a human should always be in control of a vehicle.

He added that trials would have to work out "how they will cope with weather and darkness and the unpredictability of urban driving".

Stewart Dunn, chief executive of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "Clearly autonomous vehicles are very much the future, however they have yet to be fully proven on British roads and I don't think I would support particularly Southampton as being a tested area nationally and we would need to be more confident about the proven success of them before we unleash them on Southampton's roads.