The ServCity collaborative project supported by Nissan and the British government to deploy advanced autonomous driving technology in London's complex urban environments and integrate it into the city's infrastructure has concluded.
After three years of research and more than 1,600 miles of autonomous driving tests, Nissan has worked with collaborative venture partners to develop a scheme that will help British cities integrate advanced autonomous driving technologies into their city infrastructure. The project also looked at how cities could provide "robot taxis" in the future for city residents.
The autonomous ServCity connected to the Smart Mobility Living Laboratory in Greenwich is based on the all-electric Nissan LEAF, and has successfully completed challenging tests on the roads of London.
ServCity took full advantage of the laboratory, which used its network of roadside sensors and data processing technology to create a future collaborative infrastructure environment, sending new data sources to the connected autonomous vehicle to improve its awareness of its surroundings. The infrastructure can detect objects and obstacles that are not within the vehicle's range or in sight, such as: at a bend or in front of it at a distance, and inform it of its presence so that it can maneuver and change its lane without obstructing traffic.
Like all previous autonomous connected car development projects supported and funded by the UK government, this project is an important way to reassure people that this type of vehicle is safe and can be used on UK roads and has multiple benefits for society. The final part of the project then includes a series of demonstrations that will be held in front of the partners and will enable them to see first-hand the advanced autonomous driving technologies that are integrated into the ready infrastructure for connected autonomous vehicles on the streets of Greenwich.
Transport Secretary Jesse Norman said: "The government has invested £7 million in this groundbreaking innovative project which, since its launch, has provided answers to practical questions about how to integrate autonomous vehicles into cities in the public interest."
- For his part, David Moss, Senior Vice President of Regional Research and Development for Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania, said: “We are proud to be involved in the ServCity project, as the all-electric Nissan LEAF proved to be the ideal test vehicle. We are committed through the Nissan 2030 long-term ambition plan to facilitate access to safe mobility technologies. Developing our capabilities and expertise in autonomous driving is critical to these efforts, as are research projects such as ServCity that are essential to advance the technology.”
- He continued, “Nissan, with its world-class research and development base in Cranfield, UK, continues to innovate in order to introduce the latest efficient technologies that benefit our customers. ServCity’s achievements contribute to our efforts to lay the foundations for a future that we hope will be free of fatalities resulting from road accidents, and based on providing additional levels of convenience for customers through advanced autonomous driving technologies.”
ServCity is funded by both the UK Government and Venture Partners, the government's £100m Intelligent Mobility Fund, managed by the Center for Connected Autonomous Vehicles and implemented by UK innovation agency Innovate UK. Six partners, Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, TRL, Hitachi Europe, University of Nottingham and SBD Automotive, have collaborated over three years to develop a blueprint for original equipment manufacturers, transport service providers and city planners to enhance their readiness for autonomous connected cars in British cities.
Autonomous driving technologies are a cornerstone of Nissan's ambitions 2030 plan, which is the company's long-term vision through which it seeks to achieve a safer, more inclusive and environmentally friendly world.
“Nissan provided the all-electric LEAF as a test vehicle and our talented group of engineers researched and developed advanced autonomous driving technology for use in the project,” said Robert Bateman, Director of Nissan Technical Center Europe and Nissan ServCity Project Manager. This enabled the development of a test vehicle connected to the city's infrastructure and capable of navigating autonomously through London's busy streets alongside other road users, whether they are stationary or moving. The ServCity project constitutes an important step towards the future application of autonomous mobility technology, and more than 115 people participated in it, and it took about 16,000 work days.”
