Land Rover has completed its first major hurdle towards autonomous driving by sending a driverless Range Rover Sport around the Coventry ring road.
The car was able to complete the route without any human input at 40mph, with the vehicle changing lanes, merging with traffic and exiting junctions safely.
This test comes as part of the £20m government-funded UK Autodrive project, which is ending this month after three years – with previous tests on closed circuits and around Milton Keynes being undertaken beforehand.
The Range Rover Sport comes as standard with adaptive cruise control and other autonomous measures, and to ensure it could complete the experiment, the test vehicle has been fitted with RADAR and LIDAR sensors so it can constantly track its surroundings.
Following the UK Autodrive research, the adapted model can now navigate complicated junctions, avoid more vulnerable road users and drive along more complex stretches of road.
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Mark Cund, Jaguar Land Rover autonomous vehicle research manager, said: “The Coventry Ring Road is known for its complicated slip roads and exits. It makes for very challenging conditions, especially when under pressure in the rush hour.
“Our self-driving car is not impacted by the same pressure, frustrations or fatigue that a driver may experience and so it’s capable of turning a potentially very stressful situation into a completely stress-free one.”
Jaguar Land Rover is aiming to put autonomous cars on sale within the next 10 years, with this project proving to be helpful towards the development of driverless models.
