Nobody really knows for sure, but the figure of £87 billion is currently being touted as the amount spent to date in the pursuit of developing fully self-driving cars, the likes of which we have been assured are 'just a few years away' for at least a decade now. And which, beyond a few prototypes, largely remain 'just a few years away'.

In business terms, the investment was justified on the promise of huge returns, with Intel – admittedly set to profit from investment in the sector – once estimating that the self-driving industry would be worth £6 trillion by 2050. Societally, the nirvana was accident-free transport, with the added bonuses of freeing-up huge amounts of time and massively easing congestion by ensuring that vehicles spent more time being used than parked.