Ride-Sharing Driverless Tech to Use London Traffic Data

Greg Hyde

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14th August 2018

Driverless ride-share technology is being developed using UK data gathered from drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in South London.

Tech start-up FiveAI will monitor the progress of five cars “driven by fully trained safety drivers” as they travel around the London boroughs of Bromley and Croydon gathering data about other road users to develop technology used in its shared autonomous cars. It claims the exercise will allow it “to gain a comprehensive understanding of the road environment and the behavior of road users”. The company then aims “to launch a supervised trial” of its cars in London in 2019.

FiveAI stresses the data will be collated “in full compliance with UK and EU law including the GDPR” and will be held for the sole purpose of technology development. Co-founder Ben Peters says the company believes “autonomous vehicles will be many times safer than human drivers, and this data gathering phase is a vitally important step towards making that a reality” and “can play a crucial role in reducing congestion, emissions, incidents, and the cost and time of journeys to benefit all Londoners”.