StreetWise gets in gear for self-driving projects in UK

A Cambridge-based start-up is developing an autonomous driving system that could form the basis for self-driving taxi fleets and delivery vans.

FiveAI is a partner in the UK’s StreetWise self-driving project and has raised £14m to develop self-driving vehicle technology. It has also received £12.8m in government funding for a second StreetWise project to develop a self-driving car pilot for London to cut traffic congestion and free up parking spaces.

Other partners in the StreetWise initiative include Transport for London, Transport Research Laboratory, Oxford University, insurer Direct line and others, with the StreetWise vehicle scheduled to be starting testing at the end of 2019.

FiveAI’s CEO and co-founder Stan Boland said: “Europe needs its own start-up in this area. For one, our driving culture is completely different and our cities don’t look like cities in the US or Asia. It’s high time that we build on the region’s strength in artificial intelligence.” 

Boland describes FiveAI as in “Phase One” of its business plan: it is building an autonomous platform to run vehicles, which will include demonstrating the platform’s cognitive abilities and running pilots. Phase Two will include the development of a dispatch system, the user experience development and the first commercial launch. It will also involve much more work to improve the regulatory environment to make it feasible. 

“The reason why we think it’s needed and will work is because personal mobility is not going to be a winner takes all market. There is no single solution that will work everywhere. We can change public transport.”

Autonomous car systems are being developed and tested across all the main car manufacturers, worldwide including Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, General Motors for example. However, there are other non-motoring companies and start-ups becoming involved in autonomous vehicle development.

Boland added: “They include other start-ups like Xoox and Nutonomy, which, like FiveAI, are building platforms that they plan to use in their own fleets, transportation providers like Uber, car makers which themselves are acquiring acquiring start-up talent to kickstart their efforts, those like Bosch that build in-car systems already and, of course, tech giants like Google, Apple and Baidu that approach cars like the next big hardware challenge.”

Stan Boland is speaking at Smarter Travel LIVE!