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Range Rover Sport completes successful ring road self-driving trial
Date: 10 October 2018 | Author: Sean Keywood
A prototype self-driving Range Rover Sport has completed an autonomous lap of the Coventry Ring Road, Jaguar Land Rover has announced.
The vehicle handled manoeuvres including changing lanes, merging with traffic and exiting junctions, and drove at the speed limit of 40mph.
The trial was part of a £20 million government-funded project, UK Autodrive, which ends this month after a three-year programme.
Jaguar Land Rover engineers are said to have completed significant self-driving technology, including tests on closed tracks before heading onto public roads in Milton Keynes and Coventry.
The firm says existing features of the Range Rover Sport such as adaptive cruise control have been adapted to include additional navigation sensors, RADAR and LIDAR.
Coupled with the UK Autodrive research, the vehicle can now autonomously handle roundabouts, traffic lights, pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles on complicated roads, and can also park itself.
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."
Through UK Autodrive, Jaguar Land Rover has also developed connected features, using the internet to allow vehicles to talk to each other and to infrastructure such as traffic lights.
The firm plans to have self-driving cars on sale within ten years
