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

  • Vehicle data translator for road weather monitoring
    February 1, 2012
    Sheldon Drobot, Michael Chapman and Amanda Anderson, NCAR, and Paul Pisano, FHWA, detail latest results of testing of a vehicle data translator for road weather monitoring and information applications. The use of vehicle sensor data to improve weather and road condition products, envisioned as part of the US Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration's (RITA's) IntelliDriveSM initiative, could revolutionise the provision of road weather information to transportation syste
  • Boost to infrastructure, autonomous cars in UK budget
    March 17, 2016
    The UK chancellor announced in his spring budget what he called the biggest investment, US$87.5 billion (£61 billion), in transport infrastructure in generations and is increasing capital investment in the transport network by 50 per cent over this Parliament compared to the last. The government plans to establish the UK as a global centre for excellence in connected and autonomous vehicles by establishing a US$24.1 million (£15 million) ‘connected corridor’ from London to Dover to enable vehicles to com
  • UK drivers get real time traffic information boost
    August 9, 2012
    The UK Highways Agency is trialling a system to add commercially available traffic data to its existing sources to monitor how well traffic is flowing on England's motorways and strategic roads. Similar data sources are already used by satellite navigation devices, smartphones, and applications like Google maps. Better real-time data will allow agency staff to respond more quickly to incidents and identify delays and communicate them to drivers so they can take alternative routes if necessary.
  • Free-flow upgrade to Holland's Westerschelde tunnel's toll system
    February 1, 2012
    Unbroken service Technolution's Winifred Roggekamp and Dave Marples describe efforts to upgrade the Westerscheldetunnel's tolling system to give free-flow capability. Until 2003 the Flanders region of Zeeland, in the south-west of the Netherlands, was connected to the mainland only by ferry. The new Westerscheldetunnel, a 6.6km toll tunnel, improves communications with the region considerably, taking some 100km off the alternative road journey. In 2006 it was recognised that the toll plaza for the tunnel ne