Fleet of Jaguar Land Rover Driverless Cars Hitting U.K. Streets

By Adam Pockross - July 14, 2016

driverless jaguar

I understand that driverless technology is the future, but I still can’t imagine owning a Jaguar and not wanting to drive the thing.

Regardless of my imagination, later this year, a fleet of cars from Jaguar Land Rover will be operating sans driver along 41 miles of U.K. roads. More than 100 Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) will be launched by 2020, with the earliest smart-car test dummies hitting the road by the end of 2016. The fleet will utilize car-to-car communication as well as car-to-infrastructure information from signs, traffic lights, and the like.

Jaguar Land Rover hasn’t detailed all the inner workings of their new robot rides, but they did give us some insight into the key technologies that allow the cars to operate without one of those pesky humans behind the wheel (though presumably there will be a focused passenger inside at all times). First there’s “Roadwork Assist,” which uses a 3D camera to scout out what’s down the road. Then there’s “Safe Pullaway,” which uses a different forward camera to see what’s directly in front of the vehicle. And there’s also “Over the Horizon Warning,” which alerts nearby cars of any slowing or stopping.

JLR is combining those concepts with what they’ve already learned while testing autonomous off-road driving, “which uses a mixture of cameras, lidar, radar, and ultrasonic sound to give vehicles a better idea of the type of surface they’re driving on and plot 3D paths around obstacles,” according to ARS Technica.

So, it would appear that the future is here. And that driving need not be a part of it. As neat as that sounds, hopefully we’ll still have the option.