More than 25% of motorists would feel comfortable sleeping in a self-driving car, new research has found.

The nationwide survey, by WhatCar?, of 900 drivers discovered that other popular potential activities in an autonomous car would be chatting to fellow passengers, browsing the web and watching TV.

Motorways - the UK’s highest-speed roads - were found to be the most appealing road types to use self-pilot cars.

Jim Holder, editorial director at Whatcar.com said: “It’s perhaps a surprise that so many would feel alright about being piloted down some of the fastest roads – and then even more of a shock that so many would feel able to take a nap.”

Overall 32% of those asked in March this year agreed that motorways were the preferred road to use self-driving cars. While 18% would use it for city driving, almost half (49%) said they would relinquish control in a traffic jam.

Autonomous safety technology is already on more than half of all new cars sold and several manufacturers including Ford and BMW are working on driverless vehicles.

Nearly half (45%) said the idea of a car that is capable of taking over the entire driving process would be very unappealing and more than half (51%) said they would feel unsafe behind the wheel of a self-driving car.

Jim added: “The increasing availability of technologies like radar-governed cruise control is slowly turning people around to the idea of self-driving cars but, even so, just more than one in 10 believes we will see entirely autonomous vehicles on the road by 2020.”

One of the biggest concerns for 34% motorists is the uncertainty that an autonomous car would not be able to avoid an accident. Whilst 30% said their worry was losing the enjoyment of driving.