The company was given a £12.8m grant in 2017 by the UK Government to begin trialling the technology.

Since then, it has spent 10 months using human-controlled cars to gather data on the roads in Bromley and Croydon in preparation for the autonomous tests.

As part of the test, the five vehicles will operate on all days of the week and at all times of day and night, with trained safety drivers in the vehicles at all times to take control if required.

The company ultimately hopes to begin passenger trials in 2020.

FiveAI first began gathering data by manually driving their sensor-enabled cars on London streets to help build the software required to run the tests.

The company’s co-founder and chief executive Stan Boland said: “Safety and trusted partnerships are crucial to everything we do. We’ll continue to keep residents informed along the way, working closely with the London Boroughs and Transport for London.”

The company has previously said it hopes to eventually create an autonomous car service that could help reduce congestion, emissions, incidents and the cost and time of journeys in London.

Future of mobility minister Jesse Norman said the Government was keen on seeing self-driving cars on UK roads.

“The long-term potential for self-driving vehicles is huge – to improve road safety, tackle loneliness and isolation and create economic opportunity,” he said.

“I welcome the safe testing of this new technology, but increasingly self-driving cars are just one of many innovations we are likely to see on our roads. The government’s new ‘Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy’ sets out how it will plan for their introduction.”

However, self-driving technology could take some time to reach mainstream acceptance. A recent Reuters survey revealed that half of US adults think automated vehicles are more dangerous than traditional vehicles operated by people, while nearly two-thirds said they would not buy a fully autonomous vehicle.

A similar study in 2016 found that 70 per cent of Britons would not feel confident being a passenger in the first wave of driverless cars. 

The company was given a £12.8m grant in 2017 by the UK Government to begin trialling the technology.

Since then, it has spent 10 months using human-controlled cars to gather data on the roads in Bromley and Croydon in preparation for the autonomous tests.

As part of the test, the five vehicles will operate on all days of the week and at all times of day and night, with trained safety drivers in the vehicles at all times to take control if required.

The company ultimately hopes to begin passenger trials in 2020.

FiveAI first began gathering data by manually driving their sensor-enabled cars on London streets to help build the software required to run the tests.

The company’s co-founder and chief executive Stan Boland said: “Safety and trusted partnerships are crucial to everything we do. We’ll continue to keep residents informed along the way, working closely with the London Boroughs and Transport for London.”

The company has previously said it hopes to eventually create an autonomous car service that could help reduce congestion, emissions, incidents and the cost and time of journeys in London.

Future of mobility minister Jesse Norman said the Government was keen on seeing self-driving cars on UK roads.

“The long-term potential for self-driving vehicles is huge – to improve road safety, tackle loneliness and isolation and create economic opportunity,” he said.

“I welcome the safe testing of this new technology, but increasingly self-driving cars are just one of many innovations we are likely to see on our roads. The government’s new ‘Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy’ sets out how it will plan for their introduction.”

However, self-driving technology could take some time to reach mainstream acceptance. A recent Reuters survey revealed that half of US adults think automated vehicles are more dangerous than traditional vehicles operated by people, while nearly two-thirds said they would not buy a fully autonomous vehicle.

A similar study in 2016 found that 70 per cent of Britons would not feel confident being a passenger in the first wave of driverless cars.