UK autodrive consortium to develop driverless cars in british cities

UK autodrive consortium to develop driverless cars in british cities
images courtesy of RDM group

led by design and engineering consultants arup, the ‘UK autodrive’ consortium including forward thinking local authorities, academic institutions and the automotive likes of jaguar land rover and ford motor company, wins the british government’s ‘introducing driverless cars’ competition. the project aims to establish the country as a global hub for the development of autonomous vehicle technologies and to integrate this into existing urban environments. the program will trial self-driving cars in the two major cities of coventry and milton keynes, in order to help develop the protocols and connected infrastructure needed to deliver future autonomous mobility. the ‘UK autodrive’ group will use these experiments to test public reaction to both driverless cars and the transport systems catapult’s ‘LUTZ’ self-driving pods.

‘the UK autodrive consortium brings together world-class expertise that will help the UK position itself as a leader in the development and adoption of autonomous driving technologies. as well as developing and testing the in-car, car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure technologies that will be required to drive cars autonomously on our roads in the future, the project will also place great emphasis on the role and perceptions of drivers, pedestrians and other road users.’ said tim armitage, UK autodrive project director of arup.

the TSC LUTZ pathfinder is being developed in collaboration with the RDM group

the funding for the three year ‘UK autodrive’ project is provided by innovate UK and by the 12 consortium members, and will not only include the on-road testing of driverless passenger cars, but also the development and evaluation of fully autonomous self-driving pods for pedestrian spaces. the project will deliver a collection of feasibility studies and practical demonstrations in the two urban areas, whose councils are taking the lead in developing the urban infrastructure to support autonomous mobility. the studies will signify implications and insights to develop the frameworks necessary in technical, social and economic perspectives.

project partners: arup, milton keynes council, coventry council, jaguar land rover, ford motor company, tata motors european technical centre, RDM group, MIRA, oxbotica, AXA, international law firm wragge lawrence graham & co, the transport systems catapult, the university of oxford, university of cambridge, and the open university.