A Nissan-backed autonomous car project has come to a close with a series of tests to look at how self-driving vehicles can cope with busy inner city traffic. 

ServCity, a project backed by Nissan and supported by the Government, has seen an electric Leaf cover 1,600 autonomous miles over a three-year period. Designed to look at how UK cities can ‘incorporate advanced autonomous vehicle technologies’.

Using a suite of sensors, the car has been tested on the busy roads of central London while being connected to the Smart Mobility Living Lab in Greenwich.

With this connection, roadside sensors and data processing technology can ‘talk’ with the car and even inform it about an object which isn’t in the sight line of the vehicle, allowing it to smoothly manoeuvre around it. 

David Moss, senior vice president of research and development for Nissan’s AMIEO region(Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania), said: “We are extremely proud to be a part of the ServCity project and our 100 per cent electric Nissan Leaf has proven to be the ideal test vehicle. 

News Shopper: A self-driving Nissan Leaf car is driven on public roads in Woolwich, south east London during a ground-breaking trial of self-driving cars which has demonstrated the potential for traffic lights to become obsolete.A self-driving Nissan Leaf car is driven on public roads in Woolwich, south east London during a ground-breaking trial of self-driving cars which has demonstrated the potential for traffic lights to become obsolete. (Image: PA)

“Through our Nissan Ambition 2030 long-term vision, we are committed to supporting greater access to safe and exciting research projects such as ServCity are vital to the evolution of technology.”

ServCity has been jointly funded by the UK government and consortium partners, with the project being used to demonstrate how autonomous vehicles can be safely and easily integrated into public roads. 

Transport Minister Jesse Norman said: “The Government has invested £7 million in this project to be at the forefront of innovation.

"Since then ServCity has proven key to answer the practical questions of how to integrate self-driving vehicles into cities for the public good.”

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