The trials involved collaboration between three global car manufacturers, the use of CAVs in complex urban environments and an international CAV conference, which will take place on 11 October. Passengers tested driverless pods designed to cut traffic, autonomous cars and connected vehicles, which can sense potential dangers and reduce journey times.
The UK Autodrive project is the largest of three projects to have emerged from the UK government’s ‘Introducing Driverless Cars’ competition in 2015, which had the aim of establishing the UK as a global hub for the development of autonomous vehicle technologies. The project has investigated a number of aspects relating to automated driving – including safety and cybersecurity, legal and insurance issues, public acceptance and customer interaction, and the potential business models for the widespread use of autonomous driving systems.
Some of the connected car features that UK Autodrive has been trialling include:
- Intersection Collision Warning (ICW) – Warns the driver when it is unsafe to enter an intersection, due to a high probability of collision with other vehicles.
- In-Vehicle Signage (IVS) – Sends information about road conditions, congestion or other incidents directly to the in-car display.
- Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) – Sends traffic light information to the connected car which is able to calculate the optimal speed for approaching the lights therefore improving traffic flow and reducing emission levels from idling vehicles.
- Intersection Priority Management (IPM) – Assigns priority when two or more connected vehicles come to an intersection without priority signs or traffic lights.
On the day of the trial, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors spoke to IET Transport about current and future advancements in vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and also offered in-car demonstrations of various autonomous and connected features.
The partners in the UK Autodrive consortium are Arup, Milton Keynes Council, Coventry City Council, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford Motor Company, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, RDM Group, HORIBA-MIRA, Oxbotica, AXA, Gowling WLG, Thales, Transport Systems Catapult, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and the Open University.
Here is some footage from UK Autodrive, which gives an overview of the trials and the project
