Driven demos AVs operating ‘safely’ in London

The Driven Consortium has completed a week-long demonstration which it says shows that autonomous vehicles (AVs) can operate safely in London - with a safety driver. Driven - a £13.6 million initiative supported by the UK government - carried out the demo around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford in the east of the city. Driven has focused on completing fully-autonomous routes within the UK capital and the city of Oxford using Oxbotica’s autonomous software. Consortium members Moninet and Axa XL p
October 7, 2019 Read time: 3 mins

The Driven Consortium has completed a week-long demonstration which it says shows that autonomous vehicles (AVs) can operate safely in London - with a safety driver.

Driven - a £13.6 million initiative supported by the UK government - carried out the demo around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford in the east of the city.

Driven has focused on completing fully-autonomous routes within the UK capital and the city of Oxford using 8307 Oxbotica’s autonomous software.

Consortium members Moninet and Axa XL provided risk management work while telecoms giant O2 handled communications.

John Aloy, managing partner, O2 travel and transport, Telefonica UK, says: “Being involved in such trials allows us to see how secure reliable communications are crucial to the success of C/AVs and helps us assess how we can support the future network demands of C/AVs and the supporting infrastructure.”

As part of the initiative, Oxfordshire County Council worked with TRL, Transport for London and RACE to establish safe trials.

TRL’s market development lead for new mobility Iwan Parry says the company has been helping the insurance sector understand the evidence required to adapt insurance pricing models when underwriting C/AV trials.  

“We are also using the lessons learned from the Driven trials in the safety framework we are developing as part of the new specifications for regulating the safe conduct of technology testing on public roads in the UK,” Parry adds.

Other members include Oxford Robotics Institute and Telefonica.

In response, Rabih Arzouni, chief technology officer, transport sector, Fujitsu UK&I describes the trial as an “exciting step for the technology” on UK roads but warns that “commercial-friendly” AVs are at least a decade away.

“The technology itself is capable, but it’s the infrastructure surrounding driverless vehicles that will take years and millions in investment to introduce,” Arzouni continues. “From introducing separate roadways for driverless vehicles, to resolving issues surrounding cybersecurity and connectivity, particularly in rural areas, there are major challenges which need to be addressed.”

Arzouni claims that Fujitsu’s latest research shows only a quarter of the public would be happy to be picked up by AVs in the future, highlighting they are more concerned by the technology.

“What’s crucial to make driverless vehicles a reality is that technology companies, the government, vehicle manufacturers and transport operators cooperate to ensure that they are approached in a way that will most benefit our cities, towns and wider country, with minimal disruption,” Arzouni adds.

Networking & Communication Systems

Related Content

  • February 20, 2019
    CES 2019 says hello to the future
    The launch of the latest gadgets has made the Consumer Electronics Show into tech heaven for geeks worldwide – but there is a serious ITS component, too. Ben Spencer braves the bright lights of Las Vegas to find out more The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the showcase for some of the world’s most iconic gadgets – from VCRs to the Commodore 64, and from the camcorder to the launch of HDTV. This has made CES a mecca for tech heads all over the world since it began in the 1960s, but these days it
    Read More
  • October 20, 2017
    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
    Read More
  • January 25, 2018
    Manchester seeks smart but not selective transport solutions
    Smarter transport relies on better communications both with travellers and between transport providers. Andrew Williams reports. Inrix’s prediction that the cost of traffic congestion will rise by 63% to £21bn per year by 2030 clearly illustrates that, in addition to the ongoing inconvenience and inefficiency, ongoing gridlock is a significant drain on the economy. It is against this backdrop that a Cisco-led consortium has launched CitySpire, a smart transport programme that uses location-based services a
    Read More
  • March 27, 2018
    Dundee trial offers insight into delivering MaaS in smaller urban and rural areas
    A MaaS trial in Scotland will evaluate the attraction of such services for young people living in small cities and rural areas. Colin Sowman reports. It is often said that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is fine in big cities - but what about smaller towns and rural areas? Well, the city of Dundee in Scotland has only around 150,000 people but is set to provide some answers with its trial of NaviGoGo, a MaaS operation aimed at 16-25 year olds – be they students, working or unemployed. By population, Dundee
    Read More

Highlighted Content