Smart Mobility Living Lab announces first test routes for autonomous vehicles
Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL), the UK’s most advanced connected urban testbed for future transport and mobility solutions, has announced its first test routes for self-driving cars in London.
Located in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, the test routes are not only a first for London, but also a UK industry first in offering transport innovators the ability to design their own test routes on public roads in a ‘real-world’ urban environment. Advanced roadside monitoring infrastructure will be installed to increase safety and provide information on how vehicles behave in real world situations.
According to SMLL’s own research study of the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) market, 84 per cent of industry decision-makers agree that the UK needs its own testing facilities. With 67 per cent of them also agreeing that CAVS will make roads safer, the ability to test vehicles in a scalable, everyday environment is essential to developing and rolling out driverless cars.
The sites incorporate 24 kilometres of existing roads remotely monitored by live CCTV, roadside sensors for collecting and sharing data both from the vehicle systems being tested and from communications between the vehicle to the infrastructure. SMLL customers will be able to create their own bespoke routes around the two sites. The SMLL routes, incorporate a wide range of road and junction layouts, crossings, bus and cycle facilities to test vehicle performance in real world conditions.
Source: Intelligent Transport