Jaguar Land Rover launch Project Vector Urban Mobility Concept

Jaguar Land Rover has launched a new concept vehicle called Project Vector, which according to the car manufacturer offers a vision of “an autonomous, electric, connected future for urban mobility.” The vehicle represents an “autonomy ready” platform that is meant to easily integrate into future smart city infrastructures and deliver services for private and shared mobility needs.

The Project Vector concept has been conceptualized as part of Jaguar Land Rover’s Destination Zero mission, which has been established with the goal of making the environment cleaner through the use of products that deliver zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion and thus making society safer and healthier.

Commenting on the project, Prof. Sir Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover said that through this project, the company collaborated with the brightest minds in academia, supply chain and digital services with the goal of creating connected, integrated mobility systems – the fundamental building blocks for Destination Zero. He concluded by saying that Project Vector was precisely the brave and innovative leap forward that was needed to deliver on JLR’s mission.

According to JLR, Project Vector is “autonomy-ready” and has a design that is flexible enough to facilitate a wide range of uses. The vehicle is four meters long (13.12 feet) and comes with a flat floor that accommodates its battery and drivetrain components. It is possible to configure the interior for private or shared use and it might even be possible to use the vehicle for commercial applications.

In the future, it is quite likely that urbanization and digitalization will make the use of connected urban mobility systems inevitable. There will be more demand for shared and private vehicles which can be used to share spaces and seamlessly connect to public transit networks, thus facilitating autonomous travel and travel on demand. Vehicle manufacturers will need to collaborate closely with partners across the spectrum of vehicles, infrastructure and the digital world to achieve this complex task.

Jaguar Land Rover developed the Project Vector concept at the National Automotive Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick in collaboration with its academic and external partners. The company said it developed the concept to raise the quality of future urban living and address the wider landscape of mobility, dealing with aspects ranging from how customers connect with mobility services to the infrastructure that would be needed to enable fully integrated, autonomous vehicles in cities.

“With the technology and engineering power of Jaguar Land Rover, we can provide a unique opportunity for innovators to develop highly-functional urban mobility services seamlessly integrated into everyday life,” said Dr. Tim Leverton, project director.

The company visualizes future urban travel as an amalgam of owned and shared vehicles, with access to ride hailing and on-demand services, as well as public transport. Jaguar Land Rover’s Project Vector sees a vehicle as a flexible part of the urban mobility network that can be modified for different purposes.

“It’s also a unique opportunity – a concept platform designed and engineered around urban centric use cases by a major car maker as a blank canvas, for developing tailored services and apps in the ecosystem of a smart city,” said Prof. Dr. Gero Kempf, chief engineer.

Jaguar Land Rover plans to hold a proof of concept demonstration in late 2021 in collaboration with the Coventry City Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority.