Driven consortium aims to trial AVs in London before Christmas

The Driven consortium, led by software provider Oxbotica, hopes to trial a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AV) in London before Christmas following successful ongoing tests in Oxford. The vehicles will map streets in the London Borough of Hounslow as part of the consortium’s plans to run a fully autonomous fleet between both cities in 2019. Oxbotica has equipped the vehicles with its autonomous software, radar, lidar sensors and onboard computers and cameras. The fleet will gather data on the contents of
November 28, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The Driven consortium, led by software provider 8307 Oxbotica, hopes to trial a fleet of autonomous vehicles (AV) in London before Christmas following successful ongoing tests in %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Oxford false https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3-ow94e86o false false%>.


The vehicles will map streets in the London Borough of Hounslow as part of the consortium’s plans to run a fully autonomous fleet between both cities in 2019.

Oxbotica has equipped the vehicles with its autonomous software, radar, lidar sensors and onboard computers and cameras.

The fleet will gather data on the contents of street signs and the meanings of lane markings to understand each road. This process will be repeated throughout the trial to help the AVs detect how streets change in different lighting conditions, weather and seasons.

A safety driver will remain behind the steering wheel alongside an engineer who will monitor the vehicle’s functions.

Driven, which is supported by an £8.5 million grant from Innovate UK, seeks to establish fleet-wide 567 SAE Level 4 connected autonomy (meaning that the vehicle would operate independently while the driver goes to sleep or leaves their seat). Aside from Oxbotica, other members include the Oxford Robotics Institute, AXA XL, Nominet, Telefonica, TRL, the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s robotics centre RACE, Oxfordshire County Council (OCC), Westbourne Communications and Transport for London (TfL).

Oxbotica has worked with the OCC and TfL to discuss the roads for the trials and to liaise with emergency services and local stakeholders in Hounslow.

Axa XL will provide insurance for the trials. Internet technology firm Nominet will test data transfer between vehicles and partners in the consortium.

Russell Haworth, CEO, Nominet, says: “Our role developing and strengthening the understanding of data flow and security within the backbone infrastructure needed for autonomous vehicles is vital if driverless cars are to become a mainstream reality.”

Charging, Tolling & RUC

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Japan to equip 5G base stations on traffic lights
    June 24, 2019
    The Government of Japan is to install 5G wireless communications base stations on traffic signals nationwide by 2025. A report by The Japan News says the project is expected to reduce costs for telecommunications service providers. As part of the project, traffic signals will be equipped with devices to measure the amount of traffic. The information sent from the stations to the vehicles is expected to support autonomous driving. Japan is not the only company looking to harness the potential of 5G. In F
    Read More
  • Driverless cars will be on UK roads within four years, says minister
    October 4, 2018
    Fully driverless cars will enter the UK in three to four years, says transport secretary Chris Grayling at the Conservative Party conference in the city of Birmingham. A report by Reuters says Grayling is committed to ending the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040. “Newer diesel cars today are cleaner than ever before and of course there will be a role for diesel for many years to come as technology evolves,” Grayling adds. However, OpenText has carried out a survey of 2,000 UK consumers,
    Read More
  • Lyft to offer AV service for blind riders
    July 23, 2019
    Lyft has joined forces with Aptiv and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) to bring self-driving technology to its blind and low-vision riders in Las Vegas. The deal extends an agreement last year, in which Aptiv launched 30 autonomous vehicles (AVs) to pick up riders using Lyft’s app. NFB president Mark Riccobono says: “This demonstration will allow future blind drivers to experience and begin providing feedback about this technology, paving the way for the development of a non-visual user in
    Read More
  • Columbus, Ohio is named Smart Cities Dive’s city of 2018
    December 5, 2018
    Columbus, Ohio has been named City of the Year in the Smart Cities Dive website’s awards for its work on transit and electrification. The US city won the US Department of Transportation’s inaugural Smart City Challenge two years ago – and is rolling out a variety of smart city-related programmes. Smart Cities Dive said the city’s “biggest area of progress this year” has been its increased reliance on electric vehicles (EVs), including in its bus fleet and other government vehicles. City authoritie
    Read More

Highlighted Content