Birmingham is set to welcome a trial of four autonomous vehicles (AV) on its streets.
The Government-backed Project Endeavour, which is carrying out live AV tests in three major UK cities, has announced that the next location for a trial is Birmingham.
The trials aim to demonstrate autonomous driving in a variety of urban environments and will develop engagement models with councils and communities to help them prepare for the future launch of AV services.
The consortium, part-funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, is using a combination of advanced simulations and on-road demonstrations to help accelerate and scale the deployment and adoption of AVs.
Building on their initial vehicle trial in Oxford, Project Endeavour is now scaling to running a fleet of four Oxbotica vehicles in Birmingham.
‘The city, like most, faces various transport challenges and were keen to work with us to explore the potential of AV services to tackle these and help them achieve their sustainability objectives,’ a statement from the group said.
‘It also became clear through our discussions with Birmingham that there was a strong resonance with the consortium’s perspective on future transport solutions.’
According to Project Endeavour, Birmingham City Council is keen to better understand the potential impact that AV services could have in their city.
They specifically wished to learn if services could help in areas of limited connectivity; if services would be accepted by their residents; and how new services could help increase access to employment hubs.
