UK CITE, a £7.1m (US$9m) project to build a real-world environment for testing communications technologies for connected and future autonomous vehicles, has come to an end, after completing the installation of infrastructure and testing cybersecurity in test roads in the Midlands, UK.

The project has delivered a cutting-edge infrastructure and ecosystem that will help boost the development of autonomous and connected vehicles in the UK. One of its biggest developments was a Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2X) test environment where it has installed ITS G5 (wireless) units on roads in Coventry that are able to relay warning messages from digital highway signs such as roadworks, accident, or traffic warnings to vehicles using in-vehicle messages.

Continue reading UK CITE project: Preparing UK roads for a self-driving future at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

ThorDrive, a US-based AV startup that is introducing self-driving commercial vehicle services, has announced the beginning of a new trial and that it is using Velodyne lidar sensors to provide its vans with the highly accurate data required to support the pioneering pilot.

Retrofitted to its fleet of Ford vans, Velodyne lidars sensors will enable ThorDrive to provide a logistics service for a number of businesses across the United States, starting off in Palo Alto, California, where it will partner with Hassett ACE Hardware to support select residents of Channing House (senior housing) and fire departments.

“ThorDrive-powered commercial vehicle services demonstrate how Velodyne intelligent lidar sensors are helping companies place autonomous vehicles on the road today,” said Mike Jellen, president and CCO of Velodyne Lidar.

Continue reading Velodyne providing ThorDrive’s autonomous vehicle service with intelligent lidar sensors at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Ford Europe has released a video showing how its use of big data can help cities improve urban mobility.

As part of a pilot in London, Ford fitted 160 light commercial vehicles with sensors to act as a distributed sensor system to collect data.

It captured multiple insights including how mobility solutions could reduce chaotic rush hour periods by a simple matter of timing.

Continue reading How big data could enable cities to eliminate rush-hour traffic at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Following the announcement that Edinburgh will roll out its first full-size autonomous bus service, the UK government has announced that London’s public will also be the first in the UK to experience self-driving public transportation technology with members of the public being able to take a ride on the vehicles by 2021.

Three new public trials of self-driving public transportation were unveiled by business and energy secretary Greg Clark on a visit on Thursday to Oxbotica, part of one of the winning consortia.

As part of the announcement, an Oxbotica-powered consortium was awarded government funding to launch self-driving passenger services in London by 2021 with taxi company Addison Lee.

Continue reading UK government reveals London and Edinburgh public first to experience self-driving vehicles at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

With last-mile delivery solutions being identified as a booming market for autonomous vehicles in the urban environment, a new self-driving vehicle has been unveiled designed specifically to solve the problem of inner city logistics.

The StreetDrone Deliver-E, created by theOxford-based autonomous vehicle solutions company, is a micro mobility solution based on a Renault Twizy that has been equipped with sensors, cameras and lidar for self-driving capability, as well as adapted bodywork to feature space for items such as parcels and food.

“The StreetDrone Deliver-E product delivers a micro mobility last mile solution to the growing concerns over urban congestion caused by too many large white vans being used to deliver tiny little packages.

Continue reading StreetDrone unveils Deliver-E self-driving delivery vehicle at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

As part of a project to develop new technologies for autonomous personal driving and logistics, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has selected PSI Logistics to lead its APEROL research project.

The Autonomous, PErson-Related Organization of road traffic and digital Logistics (APEROL) consists of a consortium of experts and research institutions to implement, test and validate a fully automated organization of traffic and transportation systems by the end of 2020.

PSI Logistics, a solutions provider for intelligent logistics management, has been awarded the leadership of the project and will partner with the University of Trier, the City of Aachen, e.GO Mobile, MAT.TRAFFIC as well as Ergosign.

Continue reading APEROL project to shake up Germany’s autonomous driving development at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Jaguar Land Rover has developed new vehicle technology that will tell drivers when to speed up or slow down to enable them to avoid sitting at red traffic lights.

Its connected vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) uses a Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) system, which is able to ‘talk’ to traffic lights to find out their light cycles and then feed back to individual cars what the appropriate speed is to keep traffic flow steady.

The system is intended to improve congestion and reduce emissions by preventing drivers either harshly accelerating to beat the lights or suddenly braking.

Continue reading Jaguar Land Rover unveils technology to help drivers avoid red traffic lights at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Plans to build Europe’s first Smart City Mobility Center in the UK, to test and develop future transportation systems including connected and driverless cars, has been announced.

The multi-million dollar project, which will be based at the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne campus, will form a center that creates state-of-the-art autonomous technology and vehicle modular architectures, and prototype new vehicle systems.

Technology research projects at the Smart City Mobility Center will be able to benefit from regional developments of 5G being carried out by the West Midlands Combined Authority at the new £20m (US$25m) UK Mobility Data Institute.

Continue reading Plans for Europe’s first Smart City Mobility Center revealed at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Ford has announced that it is to work with grocery giant Walmart to pilot a self-driving delivery service in Miami-Dade County.

“Like Ford, Walmart believes that self-driving vehicles have an important role to play in the future of delivery, and that true success comes from first learning how individuals want to use them in their daily lives. Together, we’ll be using research vehicles, designed to simulate an autonomous experience, to gather crucial data about consumer preferences and learn the best way we can conveniently connect people with the goods they need,” said Brian Wolf, director of business development at Ford Autonomous Vehicles.

Continue reading Ford and Walmart to create self-driving grocery delivery service at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.

Singapore is to launch a first-of-its-kind real-world self-driving shuttle bus trial, which will operate in mixed traffic conditions as well as regular buses, cars and motorcycles.

The year-long autonomous trial, which will take place at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge campus, is a joint program between transportation company ComfortDelGro, autonomous technology company EasyMile, NUS, and luxury car dealer Inchcape Singapore.

The service will use EasyMile’s EZ10 autonomous shuttle and carry a total of 15 passengers along a 1.6km route in NUS between Heng Mui Keng Terrace and Business Link.

It is the first trial of its kind in Singapore by a transport operator, and one that will rely on the vehicle’s own internal array of software and hardware technologies for its navigation on the roads, without the assistance of external infrastructure.

Continue reading Singapore to trial first self-driving bus service in real-world traffic at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International.