Driverless cars can now be hired in Milton Keynes in another world first for the city

A world-first commercial service called Fetch is launching remote-controlled driverless cars in Milton Keynes.

The brainchild of British start-up company Imperium Drive, it puts a very different and high tech spin on car hire.

Customers can now hire a car through a special Fetch app for as long or little time as they wish.

An electric driverless vehicle, which is remotely controlled by an operator at the Fetch control centre, is then delivered to them.

The customer drives the car themselves to their destination, making as many stops along the way as they need to..

When the rental period is up, the remote vehicle operator takes over and pilots the car back to base or to the next person who wants to hire it.

"To end your booking, park the car and walk away. We’ll take care of the rest,” said a Fetch spokesman.

The move follows 18 months of extensive testing in MK and Imperium Drive eventually plans to roll out the service across the UK. It will be used to connect urban areas and key transport interchanges, such as airports.

Koosha Kaveh, chief executive of Imperium Drive, told Fleet News: “It’s driverless but not autonomous – yet.”

“There’s still a human involved, but they’re sitting in a control center piloting the vehicle in the same way you would a drone. When fully autonomous, we think this system has the potential to replace private car ownership in the UK."

Koosha added: “Why pay all the costs of having a car on your drive when you can just pay for one to arrive when you need it. For short trips, the service offers the same convenience as a ride-hailing or taxi service, but with the ability to cover greater distances at less than half the cost of services like Uber or Bolt.”

There are currently four cars in the Imperium Drive fleet, operating within a four-mile radius of Milton Keynes city centre.

The cars have multiple cameras attached to them, giving the operator a 360-degree view, while the operating system uses computer image algorithms to detect anything nearby.