UK Autodrive was a government-backed competition to support the introduction of self-driving vehicles into the UK. The project ran for three years from 2015 with several major milestones along the way, including the start of vehicle trials – the first of which took place at the HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground in 2016.

The final test in October 2018 was on the streets of Milton Keynes and Coventry featuring the world’s first multi-CAV, end-to-end journey – connected car, to driverless car, to autonomous pod. In the last year of the programme, autonomous and connected cars and pods became a regular sight in Milton Keynes and Coventry.
A principal participant in UK Autodrive was Jaguar Land Rover.

A Range Rover Sport was chosen for its performance and existing features, such as Adaptive Cruise Control, modified to include additional navigation sensors, RADAR and LIDAR. It is a Level 4 autonomous vehicle, which means it is entirely self-driving under controlled conditions. Coupled with the UK Autodrive research, it autonomously handled roundabouts, traffic lights, pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles on complicated roads. It successfully navigated Coventry Ring Road and even parked itself! Jaguar Land Rover is continuing to develop connected and autonomous vehicles - watch out for them on the roads!