With the prospect of UK cities being filled with driverless cars getting ever closer, it has been announced that 4 cities in England have been chosen for testing projects.
The places chosen to give autonomous vehicles a trial include Coventry and Milton Keynes, with these cities sharing a project between them. The other project will be shared between Greenwich in London and Bristol.
The announcement was made by the quango Innovate UK and follows on from George Osborne’s Autumn Statement on the matter. The Chancellor’s recent statement also confirmed another £9 million of funding for the driverless car project, following on from the £10 million announced earlier in the year. The business involved in the projects will also chip in with additional funds.
Safer and Less Congested Roads?
The Venturer consortium is the name of the project taking place in Bristol. The idea here is to find is driverless cars can be used to make our roads safer and less congested. Insurance group Axa is involved in this project, so it will have an insurance element to it as well.
The Gateway scheme will be run in Greenwich and is run by the Transport Research Laboratory consultancy, with involvement from the AA, the RAC and General Motors. This trial scheme is about finding out the viability of autonomous passenger shuttles and valet parking. A self driving car simulator will also be available, using a 3D model of the surrounding area to capture passenger reactions while being driven around.
The UK Autodrive programme covers Coventry and Milton Keynes. This is being run by the likes of Ford and Jaguar Land Rover. The project is to test self drive vehicles out on the road and to check out autonomous pods for pedestrian areas.
Would you get into a driverless car?
