Driverless cars to be trialled in Greenwich this summer

Driverless cars will hit the road in the UK this summer with a trial in Greenwich of fully autonomous shuttles.

Westfield Sportscars, Heathrow Enterprises and Oxbotica will develop the pods, similar to the ones used at Heathrow Terminal 5, as part of the GATEway project.

The £8m project funded by Innovate UK and industry is investigating the possibility of automated shuttle vehicles, as well as looking into autonomous valet parking and automated deliveries.

While the autonomous airport pods that transfer people from the terminal to the business car park run on tracks, the ones to be trialled will be adapted to navigate the streets of Greenwich without the need for dedicated tracks.

Westfield will act as the vehicle integrator and will manufacture the pods, while Heathrow Enterprises will be responsible for vehicle software engineering and Oxbotica will use its autonomy solution.

Oxbotica will also implement a cloud-based shuttle management system, which will enable the shuttles to operate as part of a synchronised, self-governing ecosystem.

People will be able to book the driverless pods through their smartphone.

Academy Director at TRL and Technical Director for GATEway Nick Reed said the three companies joining the project further strengthen the UK’s position as a leader in autonomous technologies.

“Each company brings a great deal of experience to the project which will prove valuable in helping us to understand how the public and industry will adapt to the use of automated vehicles in the UK Smart Mobility Living Lab test environment in Greenwich.

“If the trials prove successful, we expect these iconic vehicles to become a familiar sight in many cities around the world.”