A fleet of 16 miniature cars have been programmed to communicate with each other to avoid traffic jams.

Researchers at Cambridge University set up a track and stopped one of the driverless cars, blocking one of two lanes, to see how they reacted.

When the communication system was switched off, a tailback soon appeared in the blocked lane. However, when the cars were allowed to communicate, they slowed down to let each other pass and keep traffic moving.

The study concluded that driverless cars could improve traffic flow by at least 35%.

Scientists are moving on to test the fleet in more complex scenarios, with different intersections, vehicle types and extra lanes.