AutoPlex consortium receives £4.7m for Autonomous Vehicle research

The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles has awarded £4.7 million to The AutopleX consortium, led by Jaguar Land Rover, to significantly enhance autonomous vehicle (AV) capabilities in difficult traffic situations.

AutopleX brings together private sector, public sector and academic stakeholders, and multiple data sources to tackle one of the biggest challenges facing successful AV deployment: navigating complex road patterns and traffic conditions.

Consortium members include Jaguar Land Rover, INRIX, Highways England, Ricardo, Siemens, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and University of Warwick.

The AutopleX project will advance the capability of AV technologies by combining three distinct data sources – on-vehicle sensors, information from/to infrastructure and real-time local dynamic mapping – to improve perception of a vehicle navigating complex junctions.

AutopleX will develop fully- and semi-automated vehicle technologies through simulation and public road testing both on motorways and in urban environments in the West Midlands.

Mike Waters, Director of Policy, Strategy & Innovation at Transport for West Midlands, said: “The AutopleX project is a great opportunity to align benefits from the development of AV technology with some of today’s highway management challenges, where INRIX data can also improve our everyday operational intelligence. AutopleX builds on the Midlands Future Mobility CAV testbed environment and is another building block in our world class eco-system which makes the West Midlands the ideal place for CAV research and development.”

Chris Holmes, Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Research Manager at Jaguar Land Rover said:

“This project is crucial in order to bring self-driving cars to our customers in the near future. Together with our AutopleX partners, we will merge our connected and autonomous research to empower our self-driving vehicles to operate safely in the most challenging, real-world traffic situations. This project will ensure we deliver the most sophisticated and capable automated driving technology.”