Skip to main content

UK university project paves the way for smarter cities and autonomous cars

The new i-Motors project, led by academics from the University of Nottingham’s Geospatial Institute and Human Factors Research Group and digital technology company Control F1, aims to build a mobile platform that allows vehicles of different manufacturers and origins to transfer and store data. The project, which has received a US$1.9 million award from the UK’s innovation agency Innovate UK sets out to establish a set of universal standards on how vehicles communicate with each other, and with other ma
February 1, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The new i-Motors project, led by academics from the University of Nottingham’s Geospatial Institute and Human Factors Research Group and digital technology company Control F1, aims to build a mobile platform that allows vehicles of different manufacturers and origins to transfer and store data.

The project, which has received a US$1.9 million award from the UK’s innovation agency Innovate UK sets out to establish a set of universal standards on how vehicles communicate with each other, and with other machines.

The i-Motors team will use patented technology, which it says allows data to be collected and analysed at greater speeds than ever before.

Capitalising on the experience of traffic management experts InfoHub, these data can then be combined with other data sources such as weather reports, event data and traffic feeds, easing congestion and increasing safety through real time updates and route planning.

In addition, the platform will allow vehicles to report errors, which can be automatically crosschecked against similar reports to diagnose the problem and reduce the chance of a breakdown.

The project will adopt a human-centred approach, aiming to understand the complex issues involved in the provision of new information and services for the ‘drivers’ of future vehicles.

Tapping into Head Communications’ expertise, i-Motors will also address the issue of limited connectivity by developing sensors capable of transmitting data to the cloud in real time. Through installing these sensors, known as Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS), vehicles can remain connected with sub-metre precision, even when out of internet and GPS range.

The project will make use of Huduma’s experience working on telecoms solutions on a global scale to make i-Motors sustainable and commercially successful in the long term.

i-Motors already has the backing of Nottingham, Coventry and Sheffield City Councils, where the new technology will first be piloted, and a letter of support from the Transport Systems and Satellite Applications Catapult, and fleet management experts Isotrak.

The project will make use of live vehicle data provided by Ford, which has an ongoing relationship with the University of Nottingham.

Related Content

  • Indra leads European autonomous driving project
    November 17, 2016
    Spain-based consulting and technology company Indra is leading a project that will test autonomous driving on European roads, mainly in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon, Madrid and Paris. These are the three largest cities in the Atlantic Core Network Corridor, which comprises roads that are regarded as priorities for developing Europe's transport infrastructure. Spain's Traffic Department, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Portugal's National Road Safety Authority, the University of Coimbra, the Ped
  • Seoul Robotics thinks everything’s better in 3D
    January 9, 2024
    As more and more of us will live in urban areas and need to share space on the road, 3D perception and smart cities point the way to safer transportation, says William Muller of Seoul Robotics
  • University of Michigan announces new transportation research centre
    May 16, 2013
    The University of Michigan has announced the establishment of the Michigan Mobility Transformation Centre as a partnership with government and industry to dramatically improve the safety, sustainability and accessibility of the ways that people and goods move from place to place. According to Peter Sweatman, director of the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and director of the new centre, emerging technological advances could bring substantial benefits to society.
  • Madrid and IBM partner on smarter cities project
    July 10, 2014
    The City of Madrid and IBM, through its subsidiary INSA, have announced the start of a ‘smart city’ project, designed to improve city life for Madrid’s three million inhabitants. The contract, with an estimated value of approximately US$20 million, will IBM’s Smarter Cities technology, including Big Data and analytics, to transform the city’s supplier management model, allowing the city to manage and pay each service provider based on service levels in an effort to improve the management of public servi