Google is in talks with London's transportation chiefs about extending its self-driving car program to England's capital city. The city wants the Alphabet company to expand its road trials by adding London to road tests already being conducted in the states of California, Washington, and Texas.

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Isabel Dedring is London's deputy mayor for transport. The Conservative Party member reported that the city's transport officials met with Google about making it the first city outside the United States to do major road tests for its driverless cars.  

Dedring pointed out that the self-driving cars will have to work in big cities and the tech giant is thinking about testing its robotic cars outside the U.S., according to The Guardian. Therefore it would be prudent to start trials in London.

Dedring reported that London's transport officials met with Google a few weeks ago. The city is ready to do road tests when the company is ready to do trials in foreign countries.

London's transport official shared that the mayor's office has communicated with Google several times about testing the robot cars in London. That was during the past three years.

Google's self-driving cars are powered by electric batteries. The car's round shape like Herbie the Love Bug allows its radars, cameras, and lasers to pick up objects around the autonomous vehicle. 

Driverless cars very strictly follow the rules of the road. However, that can also make the vehicles more dangerous, and is one key reason why more road tests are needed before they hit the retail market, according to Digital Trends.  

The company has conducted road tests near its headquarters in Mountain View, California, and Texas' capital city of Austin. It also recently started trials in Kirkland, Washington, to test how the vehicles operate on rolling hills and rainy weather.   

Dedring admitted during a central London event that she has some doubts about driverless car technology in traffic jams. However, it could reduce the cost of two new London tunnels. A smaller tunnel could be built because there would be fewer safety requirements.  

The Alphabet subsidiary launched its self-driving car project in 2009. Since then it has racked up over 1.4 million miles of autonomous driving.

Here's Google's self-driving car in traffic: