Driverless cars are coming to the streets of Coventry in 2017

[dutchman]

A pioneering project to create a real world testing environment on the roads of Coventry and Warwickshire for driverless cars and the technological infrastructure to support them has been given the green light.



Millions of pounds of funding has been secured to enable the UK to launch what will be the first fully connected road test environment for vehicles.

Initial off-road trials for the project will take place in late 2016 prior to it taking to Coventry, Warwickshire and West Midlands roads in 2017.

Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, Sajid Javid, announced the £7.1million UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment (UK CITE) project today when he visited HORIBA MIRA in Nuneaton.

It will enable automotive, infrastructure and service companies to trial connected vehicle technology, infrastructure and services in real-life conditions over the next two-and-a-half years.

The pilot scheme, which will create or safeguard up to 350 jobs, involves a group of companies and organisations led by Jaguar Land Rover and Visteon, and includes industry partners HORIBA MIRA, Siemens, Vodafone, WMG, University of Warwick, Huawei, Coventry University and Coventry City Council - supported by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).

The consortium partners will create the first fully connected road infrastructure using a combination of wireless technologies which can enable real-world testing of connected, semi-autonomous and eventually autonomous driving in a safe and managed way.

The infrastructure will form the basis of an on-going real world test facility which will be open to other manufacturers and technology companies to use.

Infrastructure and technology will be deployed on a mixture of different road types, including dual carriageways and city centre roads with the aim of improving the safety and efficiency of the road network.

Initial off-road tests will take place at HORIBA MIRA, before the trials start on public roads as early as 2017.

Councillor Kevin Maton, CWLEP board director and Coventry City Council cabinet member for business enterprise and employment, said: “We are delighted to be part of this project. Coventry has a proud tradition and a bright future when it comes to cutting-edge innovation. The partners in this project are all at the forefront of their sectors and we are in excellent company.

“It’s very exciting that autonomous cars will be on trial in our city as early as next year.”