Nissan claims success in advancing its autonomous driving technology with the completion of the most rigorous real-world trials in the U.K.

It joins a consortium of five industry partners in the trials, dubbed evolvAD, and builds on its previous autonomous projects including HumanDrive and ServCity.

The program is the culmination of eight years of testing without any accidents, Nissan says.

It says the next phase of its autonomous driving deployment will assess the readiness of cities and regions across the U.K. for the future introduction of systems and services.

The latest trials are jointly funded by consortium partners and £100 million from the U.K. government's Intelligent Mobility fund, administered by the Center for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and delivered by the U.K.'s innovation agency, Innovate U.K.

During the past couple of years, the five partners, including Nissan Motor Manufacturing U.K., Connected Places Catapult, Humanizing Autonomy, SBD Automotive and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), have been working to support the nation’s supply chain readiness for future mass deployment of autonomous technologies.

This project also sits inside the automaker’s global research work including in Japan (Nissan Research Center), the U.K. (Nissan Technical Center Europe), and the U.S. (Nissan Advanced Technology Center, Silicon Valley). This includes the latest 'Easy Ride' Serena autonomous vehicle testing in Yokohama, Japan, where the company is aiming to launch driverless mobility services.

David Moss, senior vice president, regional R&D for Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania, says, “As well as making driving safer by reducing human error, and cleaner by improving efficiency, this technology can give many more people access to mobility who may not have it today owing to location, age or disability.”