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Driverless Vehicle Tests Begin In London
6 - Apr - 2017

Driverless Vehicle Tests Begin in London

 

 

Londoners will have the opportunity to test a driverless car for the next three weeks. A prototype shuttle will operate a two-mile route near London’s O2 Arena, and will allow roughly 100 people to experience.

Driverless cars are aimed to allow smaller neighborhoods in Greenwich easier access to major public transport hubs. The vehicle will have five cameras and three lasers to help it navigate a riverside path used by pedestrians and cyclists, driving at 100 mph. However, a trained person will be on board during the tests to stop the vehicle if necessary.

Dr. Graeme Smith, chief executive of Oxbotica, which is developing the electric vehicles, said: "This needs to be like any other form of transportation. It shouldn't be a white-knuckle ride for passengers. We know we've got the software right when the journeys are unremarkable."The vehicle will see up to 100 meters ahead and if it detects something that it thinks is in its path it will come to a nice graceful halt. If it needs to emergency brake if somebody steps right in front, it can do that as well."It's been designed to be safe and fail-safe specifically in a pedestrian environment. We look out for pedestrians, cyclists, cats and dogs."

According to officials in charge of the £8 million Gateway Project, the system could be ready for use by passengers by 2019 but on a trial basis, after which it could eventually be rolled out to other locations across the country. Simon Tong, a research scientist at TRL, which is leading the programme, said: "Driverless vehicles could be part of smart cities. Existing transport hubs that are well used like the Tube, the Thames Clippers and the Emirates Air Line cable car that we have here, they're all situated at one end of the Greenwich peninsular but there's lots of businesses and residences that are much further away than that."This is a great way to connect all of those people with those existing transport hubs."

The government earlier announced plans to invest £100 million in testing infrastructure for autonomous driving technology, which will use the existing testing centers in Birmingham, Coventry, Oxford, Milton Keynes and London.

By Airport Pickups London