Jaguar Land Rover to create fleet of autonomous vehicles

Jaguar Land Rover recently announced that it would create a fleet of autonomous vehicles. The British luxury car maker would create more than 100 research vehicles over the next four years that would allow the company to develop and test Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) technologies, with the first of  these research cars expected to hit the roads around Coventry and Solihull later this year.

According to JLR, initial tests would involve vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications technologies that would allow cars to talk to each other and roadside signs, overhead gantries, and traffic lights. Ultimately, data sharing between vehicles would make for  co-operation and working to assist the driver and make lane changing and crossing junctions easier and safer.

Tony Harper, head of research, Jaguar Land Rover, said, "Our connected and automated technology could help improve traffic flow, cut congestion and reduce the potential for accidents. We will also improve the driving experience, with drivers able to choose how much support and assistance they need. In traffic, for example, the driver could choose autonomy assist during tedious or stressful parts of the journey."

He added that the new technology would continue to operate in the background even if the driver was fully engaged in driving the car. And since the intelligent car would always be alert and was never distracted, it could guide you through road works and prevent accidents.

The technologies being researched by the company include vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems as also self-driving cars. While testing these technologies, the company announced that they had identified a real-world 41-mile (66 Km) test loop that would traverse all environments including urban settings and highways. This route was being planned in an around the Coventry and Solihull areas of England.

The company is developing technologies aimed at delivering a safer and more convenient experience in the autonomous context, including features like Safe Pullaway that prevented a driver from crashing into a wall by mistakenly selecting Drive instead of Reverse.