Nissan-Backed Autonomous Pilot Launched in UK

A Nissan supported autonomous technology pilot has taken to the road in the UK hoping to accelerate the nation’s ability to take part in the race towards a driverless future.

The project is being led by a consortium dubbed evolvAD, funded by the UK government. The organization says it will put connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV), through their paces on a variety of urban residential and complex rural roads. Residential areas see drivers often face narrows roads, single lanes with parked vehicles on either side and slow driving speeds. Rural roads can include similar conditions but with higher driving speeds and winding roads with little to no road markings, thus posing a perfect challenge for CAV technology.

Over the course of the next 21 months, the evolvAD project will use the combined expertise of the five partners: Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, Humanising Autonomy, SBD Automotive and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The project comprises several focus areas designed to advance the UK’s autonomous drive capability including Nissan’s work to trial advanced autonomous driving technology in built-up residential areas in collaboration with TRL.

Using infrastructure such as CCTV in residential areas, the evolvAD CAVs will be able to receive information to improve situational awareness, creating a test study on how vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) technologies. The project will also look to develop new V2I technologies to further support the deployment of autonomous drive vehicles. Furthermore, Nissan will trial the technology on complex rural roads and explore what transport opportunities autonomous mobility can provide to A roads and minor roads that are mostly found within rural and intercity communities.

Commencing in July 2023, the project is already underway in the development phase, using 100% electric Nissan LEAFs as the test vehicles. The vehicles will be tested in simulation and on private test tracks before the evolvAD CAVs are put through their paces on live roads in the coming months.

Nissan is hoping to will further enhance its own autonomous drive technology, building on the success of previous consortium AD research projects, HumanDrive and ServCity. Autonomous drive technology is key pillar within Nissan Ambition 2030, a long-term vision which will see the company strive to create a cleaner, safer and more inclusive world.

David Moss, senior vice-president, region research and development for Nissan AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania) said: “Through Nissan Ambition 2030 we want to empower mobility for everyone, and autonomous drive technologies are critical to this effort as they offer huge benefits in terms of vehicle safety, environmental impact and accessibility.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_  and Threads