All cars on UK roads could be "highly automated" by 2040 and fully driverless 10 years later, according to a report.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) made the prediction as it demanded urgent action from the government and the motor industry to encourage development of the technology.
The study found that it will take 10 years to get innovations on to the production line and a further 10 to 15 years for most of the UK fleet to be changed.
Highly automated vehicles - including features such as adaptive cruise control and mapping of other road users - will be able to complete sections of a journey without driver control and could make up all UK cars by 2040, IMechE predicted.
The report stated that a public consultation involving manufacturers, legislators and regulators should be launched to consider how autonomous vehicles can be successfully integrated into the road network.
IMechE said there would be a "shift" in insurance from drivers to product liability and also urged the Department for Transport to ensure road signs and markings were updated.
Philippa Oldham, author of the report, warned that "much more action" was required to promote the technology.
She said: "We need to urgently resolve legislative, technological and insurance issues to help encourage the roll-out of autonomous or driverless vehicles.
"The benefits of this sort of technology are huge, with estimates that the overall UK economic benefit could be as much as STG51 billion ($A104.2 billion) a year due to fewer accidents, improved productivity and increased trade.
"Currently 95 per cent of all crashes happen due to driver error, so it makes sense for government, industry and academia to redouble efforts to look at how we phase out human involvement in driving vehicles.
"There needs to be much more action from government to help integrate driverless vehicles into the current UK transport network."
This month the government announced it will invest STG20 million in eight driverless car projects.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin claimed the technology would "profoundly change the way we travel" by reducing accidents, helping traffic flow and making it easier to travel by car.
