China's first driverless subway train produced, will hit the tracks under Beijing later this year

In the future, no one will drive. Recently, China took yet another big step in creating its own driverless society with the production of the country's first self-driving subway train.

The train was made in Qingdao by CRRC Qingdao Sifang, a company that specializes in high-speed trains. Following testing this year it will be introduced into Beijing's wonderful metro system.

According to Xinhua, the train is completely automated with technicians being able to start, stop and even wash it all by remote control.

However, is it completely safe?

Well, head technician Jiang Xin says that not only is it safe it "can actually run more safely and effectively compared to trains controlled by humans."

“These trains can not only help reduce operational failures caused by human error but also help avoid accidents caused by factors such as driver fatigue or sudden illness of staff,” he added.

Which is why these sort of trains have been introduced across the world, from Tokyo to Copenhagen, starting in the 1960s, though Jiang says that the "core technology for making the train is home-grown."

China's been on a bit of a driverelss kick of late with Baidu rolling out the country's first self-driving car and a Zhengzhou company testing out the country's first self-driving bus.

Which all seems like a good thing to us, in a country that leads the world in auto deaths, at more than 200,000 a year.