Following successful ongoing trials in Oxford, the DRIVEN consortium will now be commencing autonomous vehicle testing on London roads. The goal is to run a fleet of autonomous vehicles between the two locations in 2019.
Led by autonomous vehicle software provider Oxbotica, the research project has the backing of Innovate UK which awarded an £8.6 million grant.
The London trials, which will start with mapping the streets of Hounslow, will have a fully qualified safety driver behind the steering wheel at all times - such is the case in all trials undertaken by the consortium. An engineer is also present to monitor the vehicle’s functions.
Insuring the trials is Oxbotica’s insurance partner AXA XL, the only insurer involved in DRIVEN. Meanwhile, as part of the development of a robust cybersecurity model for the technology, Nominet will be testing data transfer between vehicles and consortium partners.
The vehicles mapping Hounslow are expected to be autonomous by Christmas 2018, while London trials will continue until the summer of next year.
“Being autonomous before Christmas will showcase the huge amount of work Oxbotica’s expert team of engineers has completed since the DRIVEN consortium was established,” said Oxbotica chief executive Dr Graeme Smith. “These trials further demonstrate to the wider UK public that connected and autonomous vehicles will play an important role in the future of transport.
“This milestone shows the advanced state of our capabilities and firmly keeps us on the road to providing the technology needed to revolutionise road travel.”
