New Driverless Cars trial on UK Public roads

Published Date: 13th Oct 2016

The new trial of autonomous car technology took place on pedestrian areas in Milton Keynes, with three self driving pods taking to the cities roads.

This trial is part of a future goal to get self-driving vehicles on the UK roads by the end of this decade. 

The self-driving cars are designed and manufactured by Coventry based firm RDM, and the control systems providing the autonomous drive are developed by the University of Oxford’s Mobile Robotics Group. This makes the first public UK trial an all UK affair and another example of how the United Kingdom is leading the way in the automotive sector.

The valuable data gathered by this next level technology will be available to the involved technology firms and give them a greater understanding of how the cars react to the various real world conditions and obstacles.

The specially developed vehicles use a combination of radars and cameras, the cars will tackle selected areas of the city without any direct driver input. Milton Keynes was chosen as an ideal location for the trial due to the wider roads and cycle lanes.

“Today's first public trial of driverless vehicles in our towns is a ground-breaking moment,” said Greg Clark, Britain's business and energy secretary. “The global market for autonomous vehicles present huge opportunities for our automotive and technology firms and the research that underpins the technology and software will have applications way beyond autonomous vehicles.”