A new research project focusing on the challenges for autonomous vehicles on residential and rural roads is underway in the UK.

The project uses a fleet of fully electric Nissan Leafs fitted with latest autonomous drive technology

Backed by Nissan and funded by the Government, the consortium project is intended to further enhance autonomous drive capability and technically support supply chain readiness.

Dubbed evolvAD, the research will put connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV) through their paces on a variety of urban residential and complex rural roads – which present own unique challenges for autonomous drive technology.

The work will run over the next 21 months, using a fleet of fully electric Nissan Leafs fitted with latest AD technology. These are being tested in simulation and on private test tracks before being put through their paces on live roads in the coming months.

Utilising 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 can be used to enhance the performance of CAVs.

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.

The project will draw on the combined expertise of the five partners – Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, Humanising Autonomy, SBD Automotive and TRL – to help drive UK supply chain readiness for future mass deployment of AD technologies in the UK.

This encompasses several focus areas designed to advance the UK’s autonomous drive capability including Nissan’s work to trial advanced AD technology in built-up residential areas in collaboration with TRL.

It builds on the previous Nissan-backed AD research projects, HumanDrive and ServCity, and will help advance AD technologies at Nissan as the brand accelerates towards its Nissan Ambition 2030 long-term vision.

Robert Bateman, evolvAD project manager and manager of the Research and Advanced Engineering team at the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE), said: “To bring autonomous driving to market, we must test and trial the technology on as many different road types as possible and that’s why projects like evolvAD are so important.  Ultimately, we want to make driving cleaner, safer and more inclusive for everyone and we look forward to working with our consortium partners to deliver that.”

Nusrat Ghani, Minister for Industry and Economic Security, added: “Self-driving vehicles have the potential to transform how we get around, making journeys safer, cleaner and more accessible while also helping grow the economy by creating highly skilled jobs. This research project will help develop this technology and show that the UK is at the cutting edge in developing automated technology that is not only innovative but, crucially, has safety at its heart.”