INNOVATIONSDISCOVERIESGM Cruise Origin
Thisis the first driverless car we’ve seen that
hopes to run tests without a steering wheel or
pedals. First, General
Motors just has to
convince a city
authority to let it
loose on their streets.
Optimus Ride
Lastyear this MIT start-up launched the
first autonomous pod service in New York.
The vehicles ferry
passengers around the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, a
300-acre industrial park
with 10,000 employees.Toyota e-Palette
Likean airport mini-bus, only
without a driver who’s had three
hours sleep, the
e-Palette will shuttle
athletes and staff
around the Tokyo
Olympics.WHAT IS IT?This is a glimpse of where Jaguar Land
Rover (JLR), and other car manufacturers, think the
future of urban motoring is going. Project Vector is
an autonomous shuttle (albeit with a steering wheel
and pedals, just in case) that will ferry students
around Warwick University’s campus sometime
this year, eventually taking passengers all the way
into Coventry city centre by 2021.
The vehicle uses a skateboard chassis – a simple
four-metre long platform with wheels – that can be
configured to support different bodies, powered by
an electric motor. For now, the car is a six-seater
pod, with a top speed of 30mph and a driver at the
wheel to help out in the early stages. But the body
could be swapped out altogether, to become a
inner-city delivery vehicle.WHY’S IT IMPORTANT?Admittedly, most concept
cars rarely make it to the real world. But here’s why
Project Vector is big. For the most part, autonomous
cars have gotten pretty good at learning to drive. But
in the future, car companies like JLR anticipate that
as well as not wanting to drive, many people won’t
want to own a car either.
Urban populations may come
to rely on fleets of autonomous
cars ferrying them around
city centres instead. If that
happens, the most popular
services will be the ones that
get us from A to B most
efficiently.
This isn’t just bad news for
Taxi drivers. These fleets of
self-driving cars will need
software that can learn toanticipate demand (like when there’s a football
match), avoid traffic, and know where and when to
recharge its battery. This next phase of learning
needs to happen if autonomous cars are to make our
lives better, not worse. Especially if you don’t want
them unintentionally making congestion worse as
they coast around town looking for a fare or
somewhere to park.WHAT’S NEXT?This is all part of JLR’s Destination
Zero mission: zero carbon, zero accidents and zero
congestion. It’s a lofty mission from a company that
makes big SUVs, but Jaguar have been heavily
investing in electric car tech, even setting up its
own single series motorsport around the I-Pace.
And as bans on new petrol and diesel cars come into
effect across Europe at earlier and earlier dates, this
just seems like judicious planning by the UK’s
biggest car company.BUT I DON’T LIKE PODS...JLR aren’t the only one to
trial this approach to an autonomous fleet. Earlier
this year, General Motors unveiled the Cruise
Origin, an autonomous ‘people mover’ that will
carry people around cities, only this car has no
steering wheel or pedals, and no way for a human to
take over, meaning it will need special exemptions
from local governments to begin testing.
Meanwhile, last October in London, a more
familiar-looking Ford Mondeo fitted with
autonomous tech began feeling out the Captial’s
roads. The trial was carried out by a UK tech firm
called Oxbotica, and was the first of its kind. This
summer, the company hopes it can begin a trial of a
ride-sharing taxi service together with the cab
company Addison Lee. Who wants a go?ProjectVector will run a fleet of up to 20 ‘pods’ that will ferry students around
Warwick University’s campus and beyond...Jaguar Land Rover trials autonomouscar fleet in CoventryFIRSTLOOK�
Project Vector is on
track for an on-road
pilot programme as
early as next yearINVASIONOF THE POD PEOPLE CARRIERS