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The first
driverless cars to be tested on the streets of London will resemble the
electric passenger shuttles currently in use at Heathrow Airport.
The group behind the project is currently adapting the pods for use on the roads.
The BBC reported
that though the group has yet to unveil the exact design but has
confirmed that the adapted vehicles will not run on dedicated tracks.
Greenwich is one of four places in the UK where driverless pods and public reaction to them are being tested.
Trials will also
take place in Bristol, Coventry and Milton Keynes. The £8m project is
jointly funded by government agency Innovate UK and industry.
The Greenwich
Automated Transport Environment project - or Gateway - will see seven
driverless pods tested on the pavements around the Greenwich
Peninsula, where the O2 Arena is based, from July.
Routes are still
being worked out but are likely to include residential areas, the North
Greenwich underground station and businesses around the arena.
The so-called
UltraPODs currently in service at Heathrow carry passengers between the
car park and Terminal 5. In the five years they have been in use, they
have carried 1.5 million passengers and travelled 1.8 million miles
(three million kilometres).
Westfield
Sportscars, a British carmaker, will be responsible for manufacturing
and testing of the pods. Heathrow Enterprise will design the software
while a third British firm, Oxbotica, will provide mapping and other
sensors to ensure the vehicles are safe.
The pods will
have three months of testing, first with invited users and then with
the general public. Each pod can carry six passengers but will require a
steward to be present at all times to press the emergency button in the
case of a problem.
The trial of the pods will reveal a wealth of data, Prof Nick Reed, technical director for the Gateway project, told the BBC.
“It will tell us
whether people trust and accept these vehicles and how they would work
as part of the urban landscape,” he said.
“This vehicle has
millions of miles under its belt and now we have to take it outside of
the track and modify it for use on pavements.”
The pods will
differ from an earlier demonstration where a shuttle designed by
autonomous vehicle firm Phoenix Wings was on display.
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