Connected vehicle trials are driving us towards an autonomous future, suggests Bryan Marshall.

Some of the greatest technologies that have revolutionised how humans live weren’t well received in their early stages. When cars first appeared on roads in the 19th century people were so alarmed by their speed that each car was required to have a person walking ahead of it carrying a red flag.

The automotive industry is itself on the cusp of a change that will affect roads and transport for generations to come. Connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are moving towards becoming a reality, and their impact should not be underestimated.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) has suggested that the self‑driving car industry has the potential to bring a £62bn economic boost to the UK economy by 2030 and position the country as a world leader in the technology. It also expects the change to help reduce emissions, congestion and isolation.

Changing attitudes

A UK Department of Transport’ investigation recently reported on public attitudes to driverless cars. It found that people are becoming familiar with the idea of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and recognise automation as an inevitable technological progression. However, many question whether the transport infrastructure will be ready and view the path to an automated road network as complicated.

Projects like ‘Driven’ have been exploring the ecosystem of a fleet of CAVs in two of the UK’s busiest cities – Oxford and London. In October, the project consortium members (AXA XL, Nominet, Oxbotica, Oxfordshire County Council, RACE, Telefonica, TRL, University of Oxford, XL Caitlin and Westbourne) showcased their achievements to date at the Olympic Park in Stratford, London.

Over 200 people were able to ride in the autonomous vehicles around Stratford during the week-long event. Encouragingly, riders reported the car experience was reassuringly boring – music to the ears of those who are working hard to ensure safety and security.

Connected vehicles

According to Oxbotica’s Graeme Smith, it’s not all about the cars. Driven looks at the whole connected autonomous vehicle ecosystem, from transport authorities and local councils to data trading, cyber security, connectivity and real-time insurance.

This represents a true step towards deployment, says Smith, with the project serving as a milestone in the journey to driverless cars becoming the norm.

Led by Oxbotica, the collective’s varied but overlapping work was being done with cars in complex urban environments, to understand difficulties and find workable solutions, he added.

Cybersecurity

The importance of cybersecurity for CAVs cannot be overlooked. Nominet’s role in the project was to minimise threats to operations through the deployment of existing security technology, such as the DNS analytics tool NTX, coupled with developing new software to help CAV fleet operators.

This was achieved by building a platform that underpins the three core facets of a CAV cybersecurity framework: risk identification and protection, threat detection, response and recovery if a security event is detected.

Risks and threats to CAV systems can range from infrastructure and vehicle network threats to emerging cyber‑physical threats that target the sensors of an autonomous vehicle. For example, a communications-jamming attack could leave an automated fleet without remote monitoring or ability to change objectives mid-journey.

Such threats can potentially be localised in time and space – such as by the presence of a roadside signal jammer– so a dynamic situational risk map was created which informs operators about the potential risks of a planned route.

Although the project is nearing its end, a new project, Endeavour, will carry on the work. This £15m venture is supported by InnovateUK and spearheaded by Addison Lee Group, to commercially operate a fleet of 10 autonomous ride-sharing vehicles in Greenwich, London.