Driverless micro-vehicles study assesses options for use in city
The Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles and Innovate UK are funding a nine-month feasibility study which will see a team of Judge Business School MBA students work with Micromobility Innovation (MMI) on low-speed autonomy for lightweight vehicles.
The project is being conducted with Greater Cambridge Partnership, which is pioneering autonomous public transport in the city, including the current Connector autonomous bus trials on the West Campus.
The study will focus on nine autonomy use cases ranging from ride-hailing for four-wheel e-bikes like the CitiPod, being developed by Micromobility Innovation, to mobility scooters for disabled riders, and tag-along trolleys for postal deliveries.
Asked what low-speed autonomy for lightweight vehicles means in practice, Sean Moroney, founder of MMI, says: “Autonomy for our purposes means a small vehicle or pod that can safely move itself at low speeds without someone needing to drive it.
“ It means giving small vehicles like 3/4-wheel e-bikes, mobility scooters, golf cart-type vehicles or tiny electric pods the ability to drive themselves safely at low speeds, in towns, on campuses, industrial sites. They use sensors and smart technology to see where they’re going and move without someone always steering or controlling them.”
Examples include an airport pod transporting disabled passengers to their departure gate without the need for a driver, or an autonomous pod giving visitors a ride between attractions in a park or historic site without a driver. The Starship service of an autonomous delivery cart delivering groceries has already been trialled in Cambridge. All these implementations and more are being assessed in the study.
David Foster, CitiPod project manager, said: “What we are doing in our study is surveying existing products and trials, available technology, best practices, and regulatory changes that are needed, in order to map out a comprehensive technical and business strategy for this category of vehicles.”
Sean Moroney identified the workshop as a valuable opportunity to have a reality check from the participants on the use cases and technologies being investigated.
“I’d particularly like to congratulate our Cambridge University engineering student interns, Kerry Dai and Aryan Abraham, on the excellent work they have done on researching the autonomy landscape and technologies, enabling us to identify viable use cases and solutions,” he added.
The study is also surveying relevant legislation to identify regulatory gaps and make recommendations to enable and encourage autonomous micromobility services.
“The great advantage of trialling autonomy with low-speed lightweight vehicles is that they present very little risk to fellow road, cycleway and pedestrian zone users,” he said. “Our prediction is that lightweight vehicles will play an important role in leading the way for the UK’s autonomy revolution.”