This Level 4 autonomous Range Rover can navigate city streets
Land Rover wants this technology in its road vehicles within the next decade.
Ten years from now, your new Land Rover should be able to navigate tricky city streets without a problem -- or help from a human driver.
Land Rover is currently developing its Autonomous Urban Drive system, which it hopes will provide SAE Level 4 autonomy on its road cars within the next 10 years. Level 4 autonomy means a vehicle is capable of monitoring the environment and driving the car on its own in certain modes, but humans can still take control if they want.
This technology, currently installed on a Range Rover Sport, will allow the vehicle to navigate itself through urban environments, including intersections and roundabouts. It can even obey traffic signals, something no current semiautonomous vehicle attempts to do.
Autonomous Urban Drive can also take care of route planning. Passengers can set a location, and the system will choose the best route to get there.
The system is only in use at Land Rover's proving ground for now, but that will change soon. Land Rover will put the system to the test in Milton Keynes and Coventry by the end of this year, and the whole project wraps up in the summer of 2018.
Land Rover is also working with Ford to flesh out vehicle-to-x (V2X) communications. The two are developing a car system that can talk both to other vehicles and to local infrastructure. Drivers can be warned when an emergency vehicle is approaching, when roadwork is just around the corner or if there's a collision risk at a nearby intersection.