Jaguar Land Rover Showcases First Fully Autonomous Range Rover

On June 22, Jaguar Land Rover showcased its first fully autonomous Range Rover. The Range Rover Sport exhibited self-driving technology of ‘Level 4’ meaning that it still needs a human driver on hand though it can drive itself. The company conducted a test drive of the model at the Horiba test centre in Nuneaton, UK today. The SUV has the capability to tackle junctions and roundabouts. It can understand traffic signals and successfully negotiated a simulated urban road network.

The highest level of autonomy is Level 5. At Level 5, a vehicle will have the capability to drive itself to a remote parking location pick up passengers and return. JLR had already successfully developed and  demonstrated Level 2 and 3 self-driving technology as part of which a vehicle can pull out on the highway.

Some of the other connected and self-driving technologies that were demonstrated at Horiba included In-Vehicle Signage (IVS), Emergency Vehicle Warning (EVW) and Intersection Collision Warning (ICW). Some of these technologies required the installation of Road to Vehicle infrastructure like roadside technology boxes to transmit real-time driving information as part of a flow of car-to-car information.

A Midlands Fire Brigade truck was fitted with the Emergency Vehicle Warning. This technology can warn motorists about the whereabouts of an approaching emergency vehicle so that they can pull over and make way for emergency vehicles even in heavy traffic.

In-Vehicle Signage warns a motorists if it is detected that it is not safe to pass through a junction, due to  high chances for a collision. IVS can be a useful substitute for in-car camera systems which relay road sign info to the driver. Sometimes cameras can be confused by wrong signage but since IVS uses roadside data, it would be more reliable and would contribute to greater safety.

Behind the project to bring self-driving cars to British roads is UK Autodrive, a public-private consortium, co-ordinated by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and Innovate UK.