One of America’s largest retirement villages will be having a fleet of self-driving taxis to be introduced next year.

US firm Voyage, said it will start rolling out the service at The Villages in Florida which is home to about 125,000 senior residents.

It said the scheme, spanning 750 miles of road, would be the “largest by area size” in the world.

Voyage already operates a handful of driverless taxis at another retirement community in San Jose, California, also called the Villages, but said it had begun testing vehicles in Florida ahead of a much larger roll-out.

Once the scheme is fully operational, it said all residents would be able to summon a self-driving car using its mobile app.

“Then they can travel anywhere within the bounds of the community fully autonomously,” he said.

The sprawling Villages encompasses three distinct downtown areas, more than 100 dining options, eight major supermarkets and 7.8 million square feet of commercial real estate.

But some research suggests the elderly are unlikely to trust robot cars.

According to a 2016 survey by Kelley Blue Book, a car valuation and research firm, only 9% of those aged 51-64 said they felt confident enough to travel in a fully driverless vehicle, compared with 38% of those aged 12-15.

Florida is one of more than 20 US states to have approved the use of autonomous vehicles on its roads.

But while experts say self-driving technology could make driving safer, fears about the technology still persists.