Skip to main content

Loughborough University to develop test bed for connected /AVs

Loughborough University, the academic partner to London’s Smart Mobility Lab, has been awarded £500,000 ($676,000) as part of the project to develop a research programme enabling a real-world test bed for connected and autonomous vehicles. It will conduct research and development into connected roads, alongside other contributions including a vehicle fleet for experimental purposes; cooperative intersection management systems; high accuracy GPS; 5G and large-scale vehicle to anything communication capabilit
December 1, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

2223 Loughborough University, the academic partner to London’s Smart Mobility Lab, has been awarded £500,000 ($676,000) as part of the project to develop a research programme enabling a real-world test bed for connected and autonomous vehicles. It will conduct research and development into connected roads, alongside other contributions including a vehicle fleet for experimental purposes; cooperative intersection management systems; high accuracy GPS; 5G and large-scale vehicle to anything communication capability and; a high-performance data capture and analysis system.

The test bed will have a range of facilities including connected and instrumented road infrastructure, mule vehicles for new automation systems, private networks and mobility data capture, 5G and DCRS connectivity and more specialist research equipment.

Scheduled to open Spring 2019, The Smart Mobility Lab, a £13.4 million ($18.1 million) initiative, is said to enable companies to trial ideas, technology and services within complex public environments, and allow them to develop new vehicle systems and big city transport applications. It is based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London.

Professor Pete Thomas, of the Design School, who is leading Loughborough’s involvement said: “We will be developing a new research programme that takes advantage of the facilities and the rapidly developing mobility environment. Companies such as Ford will be increasing their presence at Here East (LUL) [Loughborough University London] to take advantage of the teaching, research and innovation facilities.

“We will also be working with industry, both large and SME, to identify educational and CPD needs.

“In addition, there will be specific research equipment to meet existing LU [Loughborough University] needs while researchers will be able to access the much wider range of equipment in the Living Lab – including roadside, data, communications and vehicles.”

Related Content

  • December 16, 2015
    Ford to begin testing autonomous cars on California’s roads
    Fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans are taking to California streets next year, as Ford Research and Innovation Centre in Palo Alto continues growing. Ford is officially enrolled in the California Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The testing is a further advance of Ford’s ten-year autonomous vehicle development program and a key element of Ford Smart Mobility, the plan to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicle
  • November 28, 2018
    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
  • June 11, 2019
    AVs in the Netherlands? Don't forget the bikes
    The Netherlands’ famous love of bicycles could be a problem when it comes to the deployment of autonomous vehicles there. And there might be other obstacles, finds Ben Spencer Of all the countries on the planet, the Netherlands is most ready to start deploying autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to a survey by KPMG earlier this year. On the face of it, this is good news: coming first out of 25 countries listed in the Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index (AVRI) for the second consecutive year puts the Du
  • June 11, 2025
    La Trobe University trials connected motorcycle technology
    Melbourne academics' programme enhances riders’ awareness of hazards