ADDISON LEE-LED CONSORTIUM WINS GOVERNMENT FUNDING TO LAUNCH SELF-DRIVING PASSENGER SERVICES IN LONDON BY 2021

Addison Lee Group has been selected to lead a £15 million UK government-backed consortium to launch autonomous vehicle (AV) services in London by 2021.

The consortium, which also includes Oxbotica, DG Cities, Nominet and Immense Simulations, has won funding from the government’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicle 4 (CAV4) programme to introduce 15 autonomous vehicles in the capital from 2021, designed to support areas which are poorly served by existing public transport.

The project will build on the MERGE research exercise carried out by a number of the consortium members and follows Addison Lee’s recent partnership announcement with Oxbotica and its AV mapping exercise in Canary Wharf.

Paul McCabe, Addison Lee Group’s Corporate Development Director said: ‘The Addison Lee-led consortium will help quickly realise many of the benefits we envisage in bringing autonomous vehicles onto the streets of London – better mobility for its’ people, enhanced public transport, cleaner air and safer streets.’

Project Plans

The consortium will roll out four AV pilots using 15 autonomous vehicles. Designed to complement existing public transport, the service will be app-based, on demand and based on ride-sharing. The vehicles will be low-emission, designed with the pedestrian in mind and priced at a level to generate demand without impacting other public transport.

With its end-to-end service management and experience of completing 25 000 journeys a day in London, Addison Lee will provide the service wrapper for the project. As the UKs leading self-driving vehicle software company, Oxbotica’s technology will underpin the consortium, while DG Cities will provide the urban blueprint for the scheme. Immense Simulations will take the data from the pilot and model impact on other London boroughs and other UK cities and Nominet will provide cyber-security expertise to the platform.  Work on the project will begin immediately.