Nissan has announced that it will bring self-driving cars to Cambridge in order to serve real life people in real life communities.
The initiative, ADventure, will seek to study how an autonomous mobility service can operate within a real-world environment, working alongside local authorities, commuters and residents to examine how future autonomous driving (AD) technology can create social value, improve accessibility and address local transport challenges.
Engineers from the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) will lead the collaborative project, with Cambridge set to serve as the project’s first real-world trial. There, engineers will be able to develop a service that can be replicated across the UK.
David Moss, Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) said:This project is an important step for autonomous mobility in the UK. With UK Government backing, it will take autonomous vehicle research beyond central London and into another city, helping us understand how these services can work for different communities and real-life journeys.
By developing and applying Nissan’s in-house expertise, combined with the wider knowledge from our partners, we can delve further into how self-driving vehicles can improve connectivity, accessibility and quality of everyday life.
Working in collaboration with WMG and PAVE UK (Partners for Automated Vehicle Education UK), the 3 million GBP consortium project is backed by the UK Government’s CAM Pathfinder programme, will be delivered by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) in partnership with Zenzic and Innovate UK, and forms part of the UK’s wider ambition to accelerate the development and deployment of connected and autonomous mobility technologies.
The project will focus on three key areas:
- Designing mobility services around cities and communities – understanding how autonomous mobility could complement existing transport networks and respond to local needs
- Building passenger confidence – exploring what people need to feel informed, comfortable and included when using future autonomous mobility services
- Testing technology in real-world conditions – validating how autonomous driving systems perform safely and effectively on public roads
Cambridge was selected due to its reputation and expertise as one of the UK’s leading cenres for transportation innovation and autonomous mobility research. To date, the city has hosted several AD initiatives, and is considered an ideal environment for the exploration of future autonomous services and how they could serve to complement local transport networks and support community needs.
