Skip to main content

Move_UK develop new validation method to speed up AV deployment

Move_UK has completed the first phase of its three-year research programme for the real-world testing of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the borough of Greenwich, London. The project has enabled the company to develop a new validation method to reduce the time taken to test automated driving systems and bring them to market. The project’s data is gathered from sensors installed on a fleet of Land Rover vehicles that have already completed more than 30
October 20, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Move_UK has completed the first phase of its three-year research programme for the real-world testing of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the borough of Greenwich, London. The project has enabled the company to develop a new validation method to reduce the time taken to test automated driving systems and bring them to market.

The project’s data is gathered from sensors installed on a fleet of 7999 Land Rover vehicles that have already completed more than 30, 000 miles on public roads in Greenwich by council workers from their fleet services department. As part of the validation method, data is selected and recorded which helps to reduce the total volume of data collected and speed up validation of the automated driving functions in the real world. The data is automatically transferred to a central cloud, allowing researchers to analyse it remotely. Consortium partners assess how automated driving functions respond, helping to ensure that future AVs drive in a natural way and retain the characteristics of a good driver.

Business and energy secretary Greg Clark said: “Low carbon and self-driving vehicles are the future and the UK is determined to be one of the leaders in this technological revolution. Through our Industrial Strategy, the Government is laying the foundations to ensure the UK seizes the opportunities presented by the development of our next generation of vehicles.

“Government investment, through our Intelligent Mobility Fund, in the MOVE_UK programme is helping deliver this pioneering research into the ‘real world’ application of this technology. It is a collaboration between Government and industry that is building our expertise and reputation in self-driving technology and support our clean growth, low-carbon agenda.”

Richard Cuerden, academy director at 491 TRL commented: “The completion of the first phase of the project brings us another step closer to seeing autonomous vehicles on UK roads. Through MOVE_UK we can compare the behaviour of the automated driving systems with the behaviour of human drivers, which, in turn, will help to improve the safety and validation of automation systems.”

Related Content

  • September 6, 2017
    Remote remedies help US authorities identify bridge deficiencies
    Every day 185 million vehicles – cars, trucks, school buses, emergency response units - cross one or more of America’s 55,710 'structurally compromised' steel and concrete road bridges, the highest concentration of which are in Iowa (nearly 5,000), Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Nearly 2,000 of these crossings are located on interstate highways, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's recent analysis of the US Department of Transportation's 2016 National Bridge Inventory.
  • February 23, 2018
    C/AV integration is ‘legislative nightmare’, warns ITS UK president
    The integration of connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AV) into existing road systems “is going to be a legislative nightmare”, warned a former UK government transport minister. Giving the keynote speech at this week’s MaaSMarket conference in London, ITS UK president Steven Norris, said: “Don’t underestimate the legislative challenges – which are infinitely more complex than the technical ones. I can’t think of any development in human history which has posed so many legislative questions.” Chief among
  • April 29, 2019
    Yeti more AV snow-clearing by Semcon
    There is a lot of debate about the place of autonomous vehicles on our roads – but a Swedish company is already ploughing ahead with driverless snow clearance on airport runways, writes David Arminas Femcon, a Swedish applied automation company, has started an on-site project to clear snow from runway landing lights using autonomous vehicles (AVs). Most often, this time-consuming job has to be done manually because of the intricate manoeuvres needed to avoid damaging the lighting systems. The trial pro
  • July 19, 2019
    AV drivers need help for safe handovers, says RAC
    Drivers will need help preparing for unexpected situations where their autonomous vehicle (AV) hands back control, warns the RAC Foundation. RAC carried out a study in the UK with the Human Factors Research Group at the University of Nottingham on 49 people of varying ages using a driving simulator on a ‘commute-style’ journey for five days in a row. During the trial, the drivers demonstrated significant lateral movement (lane swerving) when control was handed back to them, even after being provided