BIS announces £1.5m funding to test driverless vehicles in Milton Keynes
Thu 07 November 2013
View all news
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced the award of £1.5m for a project to test driverless cars in a pedestrianised area of Milton Keynes.
The project, which was announced during a visit to Northampton by Business Secretary Vince Cable, will involve ‘pods’ able to carry two people running on designated pathways in Milton Keynes city centre.
It is planned that in 2015, an initial batch of 20 pods will be driver-operated and will run on lanes separated from pedestrians. By mid 2017, 100 pods that are fully autonomous will be running on pathways alongside people and will use sensors to avoid obstacles.
The early collaborators on the project are engineering consultancy firm Arup, Transport Systems Catapult, The Automotive Council, and Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Driverless cars are another invention that has the potential to generate the kind of high-skilled jobs we want Britain to be famous for, as well as cutting congestion and pollution and improving road safety.
”The car industry has gone from strength to strength – with one vehicle rolling off a production line somewhere in the UK every 20 seconds. But we must look at the long-term challenges and opportunities to ensure the sector continues to succeed and grow.”
For more information, see BIS press release and video via the associated link.
Related Links
< Back to news list