AV Consortium Claims London Trials Proves Tech is Ready

Paul Myles

TU-Editor

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2nd October 2019

A consortium of autonomous specialists have claimed its trials of driverless cars in London proves the technology’s market readiness.

The UK’s DRIVEN consortium has completed 30-month government-supported project demonstrating the capabilities of a fleet of self-driving vehicles in capital’s challenging and complex urban environment. Part of the trial included a week-long demonstration around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.

Now the consortium feels confident to claim its autonomous vehicles can operate smoothly, safely and legally in complex real-life situations, with a safety driver present on typical public roads, in Europe’s largest city. The consortium benefited from a £13.6M DRIVEN initiative with matched funding from industry, the UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Members of the consortium include experts from Oxbotica, Oxford Robotics Institute, Axa XL, Nominet, Telefonica, Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), RACE, Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and Transport for London (TfL).

DRIVEN program director and Oxbotica senior vice-president, external affairs, Dr Graeme Smith, said: “The completion of the DRIVEN project marks a significant milestone for the future of autonomous vehicles in the UK. Establishing Britain as a world leader for innovative technologies has been at the heart of our mission and we’re incredibly proud of the steps we have taken to help make AVs a reality on our roads.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in London. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_