What’s happening?
The week commencing 13th August 2018 sees, FiveAI, a leading UK company developing technology for driverless vehicles, start data-gathering in the Boroughs of Croydon and Bromley to develop its venture to trial a shared driverless passenger service in London by 2019.
Up to 10 Five AI’s vehicle’s will be driven for 10 months by fully trained, human safety drivers in the same way as any normal, road-going vehicle. The vehicles are not demonstrating autonomous technology at this stage.
“Throughout this exercise we want to keep residents informed about exactly what we’re doing, and why. We’ve been working closely with Croydon Council, Transport for London as well as all of the necessary authorities to ensure that this exercise is safe and fully compliant with UK law,” said Ben Peters, co-founder and VP product, FiveAI.
What data is being collected?
The data-gathering exercise is designed to enable FiveAI to gain a comprehensive understanding of the road environment and the behaviour of all road users including drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. This will be happening at different times of the day and night. The data gathered will be used solely to develop FiveAI’s driverless vehicle technology. Data (such as imagery for object recognition and geometry to measure distance) will be collected, processed and stored in full compliance with UK and EU law including the GDPR, and will not be used in conjunction with any other datasets which could be used to identify individuals, or for any other purpose.
What do the vehicles look like?
FiveAI’s data gathering vehicles feature an obvious array of front-facing sensors on the roof, and are clearly branded to ensure full transparency.
Further questions?
Please visit www.five.ai for or email info@five.ai for any further information. For full details of FiveAI’s privacy notice, visit here.
“Automated vehicles have the potential to improve access to transport especially in the less well-connected areas of the borough and they offer an exciting opportunity to widen travel options for our residents.
“These preliminary activities will see drivers in specialised cars travelling across the borough to gather data on the operation of the road network in a variety of conditions.
“I am looking forward to seeing how autonomous vehicles can help Croydon achieve its potential.”
Councillor Stuart King, cabinet member for environment, transport and regeneration
