Smart, connected Jaguar and Land Rovers go out to learn UK roads

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A fleet of Jaguar Land Rover vehicles that are able to communicate with each other are set to join the road as part of a test to prepare for self-driving cars on the UK roads.

Part of the UK CITE Project trials a set of Land Rover Discovery Sports, Range Rovers and Jaguar F-PACEs and 40 miles of Warwickshire roads will be kitted out with a combination of wireless technologies allowing them all to ‘talk’ to each other.

The connected roads, consisting of stretches of the M40, M42, A45 and A46, will extend each of the smart vehicles ‘vision’ alongside their myriad of sensors to determine the road network and potential hazards – such as pedestrians or a car braking hard ahead.

Colin Lee, Jaguar Land Rover’s Connectivity Manager, says to understand the full benefit of self-driving vehicles, it is necessary to understand the infrastructure that supports them. He adds:

“Connectivity not only takes a step closer to making self-driving cars a reality but it also creates the platform to bring more connected safety to our customers within the next few years.”

The system has been designed to improve road safety across all levels of autonomy, with the company working with industry and academic experts across the globe to take the project to the next phase of testing.