JLR's 'Connected Corridor'

Jaguar Land Rover is testing smart, connected cars on UK roads to prepare for self-driving cars.

The tests on public roads are part of an NZ$13.7 million project aimed at creating the UK’s first fully connected infrastructure geared towards self-driving cars.

Parts of the UK's top motorways will benefit from a world-first combination of wireless technologies (DSRC, 3/4G mobile networks, WiFi and fibre optic networks), ensuring vehicles can always be connected to each other and to infrastructure.

Jaguar Land Rover’s New Zealand general manager Steve Kenchington says the research programme will have benefits for Kiwi motorists as well.

“There are tens of thousands of Jaguar Land Rover vehicles on New Zealand roads at any one time - in the future, they will be able to alert each other about upcoming road hazards which will make driving safer for all road users,” he says.

The latest connected technology complements other vehicle sensors and extends a vehicle's ability to ‘see’ further down the road and ‘speak’ to other vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians and the network.

For instance, warning that a car too far ahead to see has applied its brakes allows the following driver to avoid a potential accident. The system will work on both manual and autonomous driving and so will greatly improving road safety across levels of autonomy.

Jaguar Land Rover will be trialling a range of intelligent connected features such as emergency electronic brake light warning (EEBL), emergency vehicle warning (EVW), and in-vehicle signage (IVS) for roadworks warning (RWW) and traffic condition warning (TCW).