The ServCity partnership project, backed by Nissan and the British government to bring advanced self-driving technology to London's complex urban environment and integrate it with the city's infrastructure, has come to an end.
After three years of research and more than 1,600 miles of self-driving testing, Nissan has teamed up with joint venture partners to develop a program to help UK cities integrate advanced self-driving technology into their urban infrastructure. The project also explores how cities of the future can make "robot taxis" available to city dwellers.
Connected to the Greenwich Smart Mobile Living Lab, the self-driving Surface City is based on the all-electric Nissan Leaf and has passed rigorous testing on the streets of London.
ServCity takes full advantage of the lab, leveraging its network of road sensors and data processing technology to create a future collaborative infrastructure environment and send new data sources to connected autonomous vehicles to improve their knowledge of their surroundings. The infrastructure can detect objects and obstacles that are not within range or line of sight of the vehicle, eg: around a turn or far ahead, and warn it so it can maneuver and change lanes without disrupting traffic.
As with all self-driving car development projects supported and funded by the previous UK government, this project is an important way to convince people that these vehicles are safe and can be used on UK roads and have multiple benefits to owning a company. The final part of the project will include a series of demonstrations that will be held in front of the partners, allowing them to see advanced and developing self-driving technologies integrated into a ready-to-use infrastructure to connect self-driving cars on the road. Drive to Greenwich.
Jesse Norman, Minister for Transport, said: “The government has invested £7m in this pioneering and innovative project that has since its inception addressed the practical question of bringing self-driving vehicles into cities for the benefit of society.
David Moss, Senior Vice President of Regional Research and Development for Africa, the Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania, said: “We are proud to be part of the ServCity project where the all-electric Nissan LEAF proved to be the perfect test vehicle. We are committed to driving the adoption of safer mobility technology as part of Nissan's long-term ambition 2030 plan. Developing our skills and experience in autonomous driving is key to this effort. , and research projects such as ServCity are key to driving technological progress.
He continued: “With its global R&D base in Cranfield, UK, Nissan is constantly innovating to deliver the latest efficient technologies that benefit our customers. ServCity's achievements help us lay the foundation for a future where we hope to eliminate road deaths and provide greater convenience to customers through technology Advanced self-driving.
ServCity is co-funded by the UK Government and Venture Partners, the £100m government smart mobility fund managed by the Center for Connected Autonomous Vehicles and implemented by British innovation agency Innovate UK. Six partners Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, TRL, Hitachi Europe, University of Nottingham and SBD Automotive have been working together for more than three years to develop a blueprint for OEMs, transport service providers and city planners to enhance their understanding of connected autonomous vehicles. Car preparations in UK cities.
Self-driving technology is a cornerstone of Nissan's ambitious Plan 2030, the company's long-term vision for a safer, more inclusive, and greener world.
“Nissan provided the all-electric LEAF as a test vehicle, and our talented team of engineers researched and developed advanced autonomous driving technologies for this project,” said Robert Bateman, Director of Nissan's European Technical Center and Nissan SurfCity flagship project. The car is connected to the city's infrastructure and can navigate autonomously with other road users, whether stationary or on the move, through the busy streets of London. The ServCity project, which marks an important step in the future adoption of autonomous mobility technology, involved more than 115 people and took about 16,000 working days. "