Coventry spearheads £10m driverless cars initiative
COVENTRY’S automotive community is set to unite to help pioneer a new £10m government initiative to spearhead the development of driverless cars.
Coventry Council, Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, RDM Group and MIRA will all play a pivotal role in ‘UK Autodrive’ – a consortium of forward thinking local authorities, the UK’s leading technology and automotive businesses and academic institutions.
The aim of the project is to establish the UK as a global hub for the development of autonomous vehicle technologies and to integrate driverless vehicles into existing urban environments by trialling them in two major UK cities – Milton Keynes being the other.
Not only will the programme help develop the new protocols and connected infrastructure required to deliver future autonomous mobility, it will allow the UK Autodrive team to test public reaction to both driverless cars and self-driving pods.
The funding provided by Innovate UK will be matched by the 12 consortium members to create a £19.2m three-year project which will be led by design and engineering consultants Arup.
UK Autodrive will deliver a programme of feasibility studies and practical demonstrations in the two cities, where the city councils are taking the lead in developing the urban infrastructure technologies required to support driverless mobility.
The feasibility studies will consider the significant implications and challenges of introducing autonomous vehicles from a technical, social and economic perspective. The studies will provide insights for vehicle manufacturers, cities, commercial operators, legislators and insurers to develop the legal framework for the roll-out of autonomous mobility.
On-road testing will include the real-world evaluation of passenger cars with increasing levels of autonomy, as well as the development and evaluation of lightweight fully autonomous self-driving pods designed for pedestrianised spaces.
David Keene, Chief Executive of consortium partner RDM Group, said: “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.
“Our role will be to manufacture up to 40 dedicated pods that will be used in the trials, including supporting our partners with advancements in telemetry and electronic controls.
“This builds on existing work we are doing on the LUTZ project and illustrates how innovative SMEs can play a crucial role in delivering world leading projects.”
