Jaguar Land Rover is investing in a research project that will help future autonomous vehicles drive naturally like human drivers, rather than like robots.
A fleet of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will be driven daily by employees of the London Borough of Greenwich, to establish how a range of different drivers react to real-world driving situations, including heavy traffic, busy junctions, road works and bad weather.
Data from sensors in these cars will reveal the natural driving behaviours and decision-making that drivers make whilst driving, including complex and stressful scenarios.
“Customers are much more likely to accept highly-automated and fully autonomous vehicles if the car reacts in the same way as the driver. By understanding and measuring positive driving behaviours we can ensure that an autonomous Jaguar or Land Rover of the future will not simply perform a robotic function,” said Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover.
The three-year, £5.5m (R128-million) ‘MOVE-UK’ project will also use this data to help develop insurance policies for future autonomous cars.
Interestingly, Porsche isn’t remotely interested in autonomous driving technologies.
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