Milton Keynes is extending its self-driving shuttle trials to more parts of the city centre following extra funding from Innovate UK, part of the UK’s Department for Transport.

The trial of autonomous shuttles will be extended to run between the train station and Hotel La Tour. The extended area will allow researchers more space to understand how the shuttles can safely navigate in an urban area, and will test how well the service works in different traffic conditions.

The StreetCAV Plus trials will allow safe testing of the technology that will eventually lead to the removal of drivers from self-driving vehicles. The vehicles will be monitored from a new city centre control room.

The project is led by the city council and local company Smart City Consultancy, along with several other partners. Mapping work started earlier this year to prepare for the shuttle routes.

The trial is expected to launch in the coming months, with fully accessible, self-driving vehicles carrying up to eight passengers around the city centre, stopping at multiple pick-up and drop-off points. 

The shuttles are built by Ohmio (www.ohmio.com), a New Zealand company that has set up its UK headquarters in Milton Keynes. The vehicles are designed to drive safely at low speeds, under 24kmph, in busy areas.

The project has already created around 15 high-tech jobs locally and several recent graduates from Cranfield University (www.cranfield.ac.uk) have joined the team.

“The driverless shuttles are a fantastic example of the innovation that is taking place right here in our city and my thanks go out to all of our partners involved in this project,” said Milton Keynes (www.milton-keynes.gov.uk) councillor Shanika Mahendran. “We’ve been able to show the vehicles off to potential investors and decision makers who were all inspired with the progress we’re making in trialling smart city tech.”

Ian Pulford, Smart City Consultancy (www.smartcityconsultancy.co.uk) director, added: “We are extremely proud of the advances we delivered together as part of StreetCAV and we can’t wait to develop our full autonomy-as-a-service vision as part of StreetCAV Plus. For the first time, this will enable removal of drivers from the self-driving shuttles in Milton Keynes, paving the way for self-operating passenger services across the UK.”