AVs could have ‘huge value’ in inner cities

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) could have value as the mainstay of inner city transport networks in future. “It’s pure speculation, but we are likely to see more segregated road networks,” said Chris Hayhurst, European consulting manager at MathWorks. For example, level 5 (completely driverless) AVs could simply be used to pick up and drop off people in the centre of a town. “In an inner city where there are no conventional cars at all it could have huge value,” he added. Hayhurst spoke to ITS Internat
June 13, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) could have value as the mainstay of inner city transport networks in future.

“It’s pure speculation, but we are likely to see more segregated road networks,” said Chris Hayhurst, European consulting manager at MathWorks.

For example, level 5 (completely driverless) AVs could simply be used to pick up and drop off people in the centre of a town. “In an inner city where there are no conventional cars at all it could have huge value,” he added.

Hayhurst spoke to ITS International at the launch this week of the London Science Museum’s exhibition %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Driverless: who is in control? false https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/driverless-who-is-in-control false false%> which runs until October 2020. MathWorks, principal sponsor of the exhibition, provides the data and analysis to help build control systems for AVs among other projects.

However, it is one thing getting AVs to operate in relatively small, controlled environments – it is quite another adding them into the sort of chaotic road conditions which currently exist in cities worldwide. “It’s hard to even imagine the amount of data and testing you’d need to cope with that,” Hayhurst pointed out.

There are also difficulties in level 4, where a driver is required to take control from the AV only at certain times. “There is a lot of room there for simulation and modelling, understanding that transfer of control,” he added. “In some ways level 5 is easier than level 4. You sell a car – you don’t train them [drivers] like a pilot!”

In addition to the technological change required for AVs to work, there also needs to be ‘societal change’ so that the public gets used to the idea of driverless cars, Hayhurst suggests.

Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • ASTC to operate e-bus service in India
    June 28, 2019
    The Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) is to deploy 15 electric buses in Guwahati, a city in north-east India. The project is part of the Indian government’s FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) scheme. A report by Business Standard says each bus will carry up to 31 passengers along a 6.4km route between the neighbourhoods of Kachari and Kamakhya. ASTC will operate a second service along a 38km route from the Inter State Bus Terminal while also running another service in
    Read More
  • Companies depend on automation, AI and machine learning for cyber security
    February 23, 2018
    To defend against cyber attacks, 39% of organisations are reliant on automation, 34% on machine learning and 32% on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Cisco 2018 annual report conducted on 3,600 chief information security officers. It found that over half of all attacks resulted in financial damages of more than $500,000 (£697,000), including, but not limited to, lost revenue, clients, opportunities, and out-of-pocket costs. The study revealed that adversaries are using Malware sophistication
    Read More
  • Insights into Mobility as a Service
    March 19, 2018
    Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is one of, if not the, biggest changes in the transport sector for many decades and ITS International’s stand is the place find out everything there is to know about MaaS - from concept to delivery. Having already run two successful MaaS Market conferences in London, the company is at Intertraffic highlighting its first US conference which is being run with the support of City of Atlanta and Georgia’s State Road & Tollway Authority. The US conference will take place in Atlanta
    Read More
  • ITS International launches MaaS Market Conference
    August 10, 2016
    ITS International is to host its first conference for national and city authorities interested in the benefits and implementation of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). There is no doubt that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) will be a major disrupter and the next mega-trend in urban and inter-urban transport. Why? Because it is more convenient and cheaper for the individual traveller.
    Read More

Highlighted Content