Commoners May Soon Ride Driverless in London

Burney Simpson

In London even commoners will be riding in a driverless car.

That is, if you make the cut.

Folks who live in the United Kingdom can apply to take a ride in a driverless vehicle in London as part of the Greenwich Automated Transport Environment, or GATEway, Project.

The electric-powered, shuttle vehicles will be tested in the Greenwich neighborhood in London. Following the test riders will be asked to provide their views on the experience.

The Gateway Project didn’t announce when the ride-alongs would begin. The public can volunteer to take part in driverless technology workshops in Greenwich from June to August.

Those seeking to take a ride or participate in a workshop should visit the Gateway Project.

(To be precise the ride-alongs will take place in the ‘Royal Borough of Greenwich’, a section of London that may exist somewhere near Downton Abbey. Who knows, if you get selected you may share a ride with the Dowager Countess).

Gateway is part of an $11.5 million project led by Innovate UK, a government agency, and the business community. The Transportation Research Laboratory is managing Gateway.

“Testing these vehicles in a living environment, like the UK Smart Mobility Living Lab, takes the concept from fiction to reality,” Nick Reed, director at TRL and technical lead of Gateway, said in a release.

“It gives the public a chance to experience what it’s like to ride in an automated vehicle and to make their own mind up as to how much they like it, trust it and could accept it as a service in the city.”

The UK is running three driverless projects – Gateway, UK Autodrive in Coventry and Milton Keynes, and Venturer in Bristol.

Volvo recently announced that the UK public could ride in fully autonomous vehicles in 2017 in its Drive Me London program. (See “Volvo Announces ‘Drive Me London’, the ‘Largest and Most Ambitious Autonomous Driving Trial Yet’”).