Skip to main content

London Science Museum hosts free driverless vehicle exhibition

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are at the heart of a new exhibition at the London Science Museum. Driverless: Who is in control? opens on 12 June and looks at “how close we are to living in a world driven by thinking machines”. Continuing until October 2020, the show examines themes familiar to ITS professionals wrestling with the legal, ethical and logistical issues around the introduction of driverless cars to public roads. The museum says it will focus on “how much of this seemingly futuristic technolog
March 8, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are at the heart of a new exhibition at the London Science Museum.

Driverless: Who is in control? opens on 12 June and looks at “how close we are to living in a world driven by thinking machines”.

Continuing until October 2020, the show examines themes familiar to ITS professionals wrestling with the legal, ethical and logistical issues around the introduction of driverless cars to public roads. The museum says it will focus on “how much of this seemingly futuristic technology already exists and extends far beyond the cars we’re familiar with, how much control we’re willing to transfer to them and how their wider deployment could shape our habits, behaviour and society”.

Investment in the applications of artificial intelligence and deep learning in AVs is growing year on year, says Sham Ahmed, managing director at MathWorks UK: “With driver assistance systems in many of the vehicles on the road today, autonomy is already woven into our everyday lives.”

Science Museum lead curator Ling Lee says: “This exhibition will explore what could happen when we let algorithms make decisions for us, not just from behind the screens of our mobile phones or self-checkout counters, but in our physical reality.”

Exhibits will include the 1960 6453 Citroen DS19 car, which was modified in the UK to ‘self-drive’ in early experiments in driverless technology.
%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external <br />Oxbotica&#8217;s false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/driven-consortium-aims-to-trial-avs-in-london-before-christmas/ false false%> Geni, one of the earliest self-driving cars to be tested in UK public trials, will also be included along with the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Westfield false http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/general/news/public-invited-to-take-part-in-greenwich-driverless-pod-trial/ false false%> POD, an electric AV for first/last-mile journeys.

Driverless: Who is in control? runs from 12 June 2019 to October 2020.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external sciencemuseum.org.uk/driverless false http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/driverless false false%>

Related Content

  • June 13, 2019
    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
  • December 10, 2018
    Waymo trials commercial driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona
    Waymo has launched a driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona, where riders will be charged for the journeys they take. In a blog post, CEO John Krafcik says the commercial self-driving service – called Waymo One - is available to early riders who have already been using Waymo’s technology. The company hopes to make the service available to more members of the public as it adds more vehicles and drives in more places, he writes. “Self-driving technology is new to many, so we’re proceeding carefully wi
  • November 15, 2019
    Waymo scraps AV operations in Austin
    Waymo is closing its operations in the US city of Austin following an increase in investment in the Detroit and Phoenix areas. A spokesperson told Austin Inno: “As a result, we’ve decided to relocate all Austin positions to Detroit and Phoenix. We are working closely with employees, offering them the opportunity to transfer, as well as with our staffing partners to ensure everyone receives transition pay and relocation assistance.” Last month Waymo sent an email to users, which appeared on Reddit, saying
  • December 14, 2018
    TfL describes reports of closer ties with Uber as ‘nonsense’
    Transport for London (TfL) has described claims that it is deepening its relationship with Uber as ‘nonsense’. Media reports suggested that London’s transit authority might be going to offer customers access to public transport services via the ride-hailing firm's app. The Financial Times reported that Uber is attempting to add TfL's data about tube and bus timetables into the app. But a spokesperson from TfL told ITS International that the only thing it is putting out is open data – and does no