Speaker Interviews: Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017

Ahead of our Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017 conference in conjunction with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers spoke with one of our panellists at the event, Paul Markwick. Paul is the Managing Director of Operations for The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

Q: Could you briefly explain your role and involvement in the development of connected and automated vehicles?

Paul Markwick (PM): The Manufacturing Technology Centre is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supporting the UK Manufacturing sector through innovation and application of high value solutions.

Q: In your opinion, what is the number one challenge holding back increased autonomy on the roads in today’s current market?

PM: I believe the biggest challenge is verification of the current technical status of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending and presenting at the Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017 conference?

PM: I am looking forward to gaining a better understanding of the current technical and political status of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles in the UK, and where this sits in a global context.

Q: Where do you see the future of autonomous road vehicles over the next 5-10 years?

PM: Autonomous road vehicles will be tested on a variety of UK public roads over the next 5-10 years, developing confidence in the product before it can be commercially deployed.

Interested in finding out more? Join Paul Markwick and other experts from Jaguar Land Rover, Robert Bosch Limited, HORIBA MIRA, the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, and others at the Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017 conference in September.

Ahead of our Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017 conference in conjunction with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers spoke with one of our speakers at the event, Simon Morley. Simon is Lead Project Manager for the MOVE-UK Project, Original Equipment Division, Robert Bosch Limited. MOVE_UK seeks to address key barriers to the development of autonomous vehicles, particularly with methods of validating Automated Driving Systems (ADS).

Q: Could you briefly explain your role and involvement in the development  of connected and automated vehicles?

Simon Morley (SM): I am the Lead Project Manager of a part UK government (CCAV) funded project called “MOVE_UK” which is primarily focused on developing a new, more efficient, method of validating automated driving systems/features. The project, which is led by Bosch UK and involves 5 other UK based companies (TRL, Jaguar Land Rover, Direct Line Group, The Floow, and Royal Borough of Greenwich), started on 1st Aug 2016 and will last for 3 years.  

The new validation method is being trialled on a small fleet of Land Rover production vehicles (fitted with several ADAS features) driving in real world conditions on the streets of Greenwich, London.  The data collected from the vehicles is being sent via 3G and Wi-Fi to a cloud hosted in the UK by TRL. This data will form a “Big Data” resource which will be used by the consortium partners for a variety of purposes including as an evidence base for developing future regulatory & type approval approaches to autonomous driving.  For more details see: www.move-uk.com

Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending and presenting at the Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017 conference?

SM: By attending this conference, I am looking forward to sharing insights about the MOVE_UK project and networking with attendees working on other UK based autonomous driving projects.

Q: What is the number one challenge holding back increased autonomy on the roads in today’s current market?

SM: The significant time and expense of validating autonomous driving systems/features using existing validation techniques/methods.

Q: Where do you see the future of autonomous road vehicles over the next 5–10 years?

SM: In next 5-10 years, I think we will start to see highly automated driving systems (Level 3 and 4) being introduced on shared vehicles (e.g. “robo-taxis”).

Interested in finding out more? Join Simon Morley and other experts from Jaguar Land Rover, HORIBA MIRA, the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, and others at the Connected and Automated Vehicle Engineering 2017 conference in September.