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They're not pretty and they're not fast. But at least you can talk all you like on your mobile phone when you are in charge of one of these cars.

And it doesn't matter if you are ten times over the limit, fast asleep or writing a shopping list. Because you will not be the one doing the driving in the 'car of the future'. You leave all that to the car. And the future isn't as far away as you might think.

Following last week's Government announcement that Britain wants to lead the world in the development of the first driverless cars, we are about to see three pioneering prototypes – a souped-up golf cart, a laser-guided bubble car and a van-cum-moon buggy –buzzing around certain British cities in a matter of months.

Scroll down for video on how the driverless cars are built 

Robert Hardman relaxes behind the wheel of a Lutz Pathfinder pod, which is to be tested in Milton Keynes

And it won't be that long before they are carrying members of the public.

But what are they really like? How is all this going to work? And, frankly, what's the point? Man has sat perfectly happily behind a steering wheel for more than 100 years. 

If we get robots to do our driving, we might have more time to read the paper. 

But, at the same time, we are going consign every taxi driver to the scrapheap and create a whole new industry for the legal profession. 

If a driverless car mows you down, do you sue the passenger, the owner, the maker or the computer? Rich pickings indeed for m'learned friends.

Yet fans of the idea point out that it will not just transform the way we live. They claim it will be a lot cheaper and safer.

The idea of the driverless car is not new, of course. 

Every major motor manufacturer has been working on the idea for years while the internet monster, Google, has been test-driving a fleet of hands-free vehicles on certain US roads for some time. 

But there are restrictions on where they can go and they must have a qualified driver in charge at all times.

Last week, two Whitehall departments, Transport and Business, jointly announced that anyone will be able to start developing this new technology across Britain's entire road network from this Spring.

All experimental vehicles will need to conform to a code of conduct, have a designated driver in overall control and be fully-insured. But the idea is to give Britain the same pre-eminence in driverless engineering that it enjoys in other areas of innovation like motor sport (most Formula One teams, for example, are UK-based).

To underline the point, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, and the Transport Minister, Claire Perry, have unveiled the three winners of a £19 million Government prize fund for driverless innovation. Each will now undertake extensive trials in specific urban locations.

The Meridian driverless cars (left) being tested in London travel at a brisk walking pace while the Lutz Pathfinder Pods (shown on the right), which will be trialed in Milton Keynes, have a top speed of 15 mph

The LUTZ Pathfinder uses 22 sensors including cameras, radar and lasers (shown above) to detect hazards

The technology already exists to get a car from A to B unaided. Quite a lot of it, from cruise control to automated braking, is already inside millions of family cars. 

The challenge is to develop technology which can also overcome the infinite number of variables known as real life. 

How can a driverless car distinguish between, say, a plastic bag and a cyclist? What does it do if white van man is blocking a narrow street? How does it know when a puddle is a flood? And who is to blame when things go wrong?

These are the big (some might say insurmountable) questions which have to be answered before this sci-fi fantasy of robot chauffeurs can even start taking shaper. But the Government sees enormous potential for this country if Britain can answer them.

It is still going to be many years before we see empty cars driving on the Queen's Highway. But it certainly won't be long before we see them in pedestrian areas.

In fact, a fleet of eight will soon be up and running on the wide open spaces around the former Millennium Dome in the London Borough of Greenwich.

This is home to the new Meridian shuttle, a sedate electric cart with open sides which can take up to eight people anywhere on a pre-determined route along this stretch of the Thames. I have come to have a go myself.

Cameras fitted around the Lutz Pathfinder allows it to detect and avoid pedestrians and other hazards

Passengers can select their destination on a touch screen monitor (pictured above) on the Meridian vehicles

Passengers chose one of several stopping points - making the buggies more like a driverless bus than a taxi

Shiny metal bars slide open to let me board and it's down to me to choose one of several stopping points destinations from a touch-screen monitor.

I ask it to take me 200 yards from the Tube station to the Dome and it trundles off at a brisk walking speed.

As soon as a pedestrian wanders across our path a few yards ahead, we slow down. And when the route is blocked by a couple studying a map, the shuttle just stops altogether. 

There is no horn and it simply waits for them to get out of the way. They haven't even noticed us so I end up making polite coughing noises. They smile and stand aside.

Designed by a consortium of engineering companies, this thing has plenty of potential for airports and theme parks (an American university campus and a military academy have each ordered a fleet). 

The Meridian vehicle, pictured above, is being tested in a pedestrianised area of Greenwich in London

The Lutz Pathfinder use cameras fitted around the vehicle, like the one above, to detect obstacles around it

But its main purpose, for now, is experimental. The Government wants to see how these machines interact with people. 

Ever since the car was invented, pedestrians have worked on the basis that flesh and bone is weaker than a ton of self-propelled steel. That is why we get out of the way of oncoming traffic.

But what happens when the tables are turned? If we start assuming that traffic will give way to us because it programmed to do so, we will behave differently.

I travel to Milton Keynes to inspect another prizewinner. The Lutz Pathfinder Pod is a nippy electric two-seater which will make its debut in the centre of the town later this year.

It is being developed by the Government's 'Transport Systems Catapult' programme in conjunction with several big names including Jaguar Land Rover and Arup.

To begin with, engineers will test-drive three pods on pavements, cycleways and paths all over town (with steering wheels) while the public get used to the idea. 

'Basically, they'll go anywhere a mobility scooter can go,' says chief executive Steve Yianni, adding that the pods will have a top speed of 15mph and will navigate their own way around any obstacles in their path.

HOW DRIVERLESS VEHICLES WILL TAKE CONTROL ON OUR ROADS

There will eventually be 40 LUTZ Pathfinder pods like above driving in Milton Keynes in the trials

The Government's driverless car report says the vehicles will be sold 'on the basis that the driver does not have to concentrate when in automated mode'. 

So they must take account of and react to other road users – including pedestrians, cyclists as required in The Highway Code – as well as tearaways trying to cause mischief and 'test' the technology.

The report notes: 'For example an automated vehicle in autonomous mode will need to recognise when it is near a school and, if necessary, adjust its speed accordingly to comply with the rules of The Highway Code.' 

But it adds: 'Drivers of other vehicles may be tempted to test the capabilities or responses of automated vehicles knowing that they will likely be programmed to operate defensively. 

'For example, they may pull out in front of an automated vehicle or cut in front of it too close after overtaking. Pedestrians might be tempted to cross just in front of a vehicle knowing that the sensor systems would activate the brakes.'

Within a year or so, members of the public will be able to get in one alongside an operator. 

Finally, both the steering wheel and operator will disappear and Milton Keynes will have a fleet of 40 entirely autonomous pods which can be summoned just like a taxi to take you anywhere – as long as it's in Milton Keynes. 'It's about taking you on the last mile of your journey,' says Mr Yianni.

For now, the insurance does not cover passengers so I can only watch as it whizzes around a Milton Keynes car park, although I am allowed to sit inside when it's switched off. 

The leather trim is impressive, as is the Union Flag paintwork, the clever storage space for shopping, the banks of sensors and 360-degree 'lidar' (laser radar). 

For this thing does not navigate by GPS (the technology which governs satellite navigation systems) but by recognising every detail about its surroundings. 

It turns out that this thing is even more omniscient and hypersensitive than Stephen Fry (if not quite as snappy with a double entendre).

Writer Robert Hardman climbs inside a Lutz Pathfinder pod, which have a stopping distance of just 8 inches

But perhaps its most striking feature is its braking mechanism. Chief engineer Jez Coates takes it for a spin at jogging speed and then slams on the brakes. The pod stops in 20 centimetres – a shorter braking space than that of a human moving at the same speed.

A UK Government review found driverless cars could open up access to vehicles to more people

For all its inherent advantages – and it could be a life-changer for the elderly and the infirm - there is something rather depressing about spending one's entire life as a back-seat driver. And it's a creepy idea to be at the mercy of a chauffeur entirely immune to emotion. 

How do you tell it to put its foot down as you're about to miss your train – or to let a friendly face merge into your lane?

But the experts are adamant that travelling in the driverless vehicle of the future is going to be a lot cheaper and a lot safer than sitting in even the sturdiest family car on the market today.

'Human error causes 90 per cent of accidents,' says David Williams, managing director of underwriting at Axa. 

'If humans are not doing the driving, then accidents and injuries are going to come down and that means cheaper premiums.' 

The insurance giant is part of the consortium behind the third car unveiled this week, the Bristol-based Venturer project. 

This box of extremely sophisticated tricks, mounted on a British Aerospace Wildcat, will drive around Bristol for the next 36 months (with a driver) gauging public reaction.

The Venturer team have also been charged with exploring all the legal dimensions to the new technology. 'This will be the biggest thing in motoring insurance since the car was invented,' says Mr Williams. 

'We will have to redefine what constitutes an 'owner' and what is a 'driver'. But having just been clipped on the A14 by a Polish lorry, I have absolutely no qualms about saying that we are all at much greater risk from a tired human driver than we are ever going to be from an autonomous vehicle.'

Behind the scenes look at the construction of the pods