From this week, advanced mapping is taking place in Milton Keynes city centre as a vital step ahead of a new trial of autonomous shuttles.
The Street Connected and Autonomous Vehicles project is led by Milton Keynes City Council and Smart City Consultancy with other partners. In the trial, fully accessible autonomous vehicles will carry up to eight passengers around the city centre with multiple pick up and drop off points.
Mapping is now underway with vehicles initially being driven between Unity Place and Midsummer Place to gather essential data for the shuttle routes. Once the mapping is completed, passengers will be able to try the shuttles for free on city centre roads as early as February. If the trial is successful, it could be used as a blueprint for shuttles in other parts of the country.
The vehicles, supplied by Ohmio, who has set up their UK HQ in MK, have been specially designed to operate in city centre environments at low speeds (under 15mph). The shuttles will be connected to a new city centre control room where they will be supervised and managed remotely. For the initial operation, the vehicles will have a fully trained safety operator on board ready to take control if needed.
The project has created around 15 high tech jobs in MK, and recruited a number of recent local graduates from Cranfield University.
“We’re committed to exploring innovative transport solutions that benefit residents and visitors, while also creating food for thought for sustainable cities around the world. It’s really encouraging that we’ve managed to bring industry-leading partners together on this exciting project. I look forward to hearing about people’s experiences when they try the vehicles out.”
“This is an exciting step for Ohmio and Milton Keynes. The mapping task will establish the routes the shuttles will take and ensure they operate safely within a designated route - it will be like creating virtual tracks.”