Connected vehicle trials on our streets
The UK’s largest trial of connected and autonomous vehicle technology has moved onto public roads, with the UK Autodrive project starting in-city trials this month.
Project partners Jaguar Land Rover, Ford and Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) have begun to trial a number of connected car features in the city, with Jaguar Land Rover and TMETC also separately trialling their autonomous vehicle research technologies.
The connected car trials are exploring the benefits of having cars that can “talk” to each other and their surroundings – with connected traffic lights, emergency vehicle warnings and emergency braking alerts among the technologies being trialled (see full list of UK Autodrive connected car use cases below).
The Jaguar Land Rover and TMETC autonomous vehicle research technology trials are being used to develop self-driving vehicle technology in a real-world setting, but with highly trained test operators supervising the cars at all times.
Further trials are scheduled to take place in Coventry and Milton Keynes early next year followed by a final series of open road demonstration events in both cities during the second half of 2018.
As well as the on-road testing of connected and autonomous cars in Milton Keynes and Coventry, UK Autodrive is also trialling a fleet of up to 40 self-driving pavement-based ‘pod’ vehicles in Milton Keynes, with both types of vehicle due to take part in the project’s final technology demonstrations next year. The PODS are currently being tested on the pavements of Central Milton Keynes, with the service being available for use in mid 2018.