Driverless pod car wins SMMT innovation award

Led by the UK’s Transport Systems Catapult, the Low-carbon Urban Transport Zone (LUTZ) Pathfinder project has developed two-seater autonomous electric-powered ‘pods’ that could one day be used to provide public transport along pedestrian routes.

In trials expected to begin early next year, a small number of pods will begin operating along predetermined pedestrianised routes in Milton Keynes. Findings from the project will then be fed into the larger-scale UK Autodrive programme which is set to deploy a larger fleet of 40 pods along with “regular” road-based cars as part of a two-city trial in Milton Keynes and Coventry.

The battery powered, four-wheeled pod developed by the team seats two people, can travel at a maximum speed of 15mph and has a range of 40 miles. Rather than relying on GPS to find its way around the vehicle uses information from an array of different sensors to work out where it is within a pre-mapped environment.