Driverless cars to be on West Midlands streets next year
Driverless cars are to be piloted on the streets of Wolverhampton next year, transport chiefs have announced.
In its plan for 2017-18, Transport for West Midlands has revealed work is being carried out on business cases for the new ‘POD’ technology.
A pilot scheme for ‘autonomous pod vehicles’ – developed by Kingswinford firm Westfield Sportscars – will be trialled in Wolverhampton, as well as Birmingham and Coventry.
These are similar to pods that are already in use at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, can carry up to six passengers at a time and will be used for short-hop journeys of up to a mile.
Westfield’s chief executive Julian Turner said: “At the moment we’re trialling the PODs in Greenwich – where they have been for the past 12 to 18 months – and also in Bristol.
“Then we will be running a commercial operation at the Olympic Park in London and hopefully the centre of Birmingham, Birmingham Airport and Wolverhampton next year.
“We’re putting the vehicles in different places to test the technology and make sure it works.
“But it’s not just the vehicles, it’s also the tech to go with the vehicles as well – there’s some really cool technology, which will help people’s everyday lives.”
The PODs will provide the first and last mile of journeys – effectively replacing taxis and buses on journeys to other rail hubs.
John Parry – from Cradley Heath firm Parry People Movers, which is behind the Stourbridge Shuttle – said they are a vital part of the future transport network.
He said: “These have got a tremendous potential, particularly when in collaboration with other different transport systems.
“If they could work together and it is done sensibly it could remove requirements for private cars to be used on roads.
“I think the biggest application [for the pods] will be from people’s homes.
“In the future people will be able to summon a pod and it will take to them to the railway station – then trains will take them on the rest of the journey.”
The pods will travel at a ‘modest speed’ of 10mph to 20mph, he suggested.
The Transport West Midlands report states: “The intelligent application of autonomous and connected vehicle (CAV) technology is capable of benefitting all tiers of the transport system – improving vehicle routing, infrastructure optimisation and reducing operating costs [so] overall network efficiencies, interchange and accessibility can be increased for travellers and businesses.”
It says the ‘development of business cases and piloting of autonomous pod vehicles in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry’ is in the pipeline.
Wolverhampton council leader Roger Lawrence said: “Technology is moving at a fast pace, in 10 years time who knows how we will get around.
“The pods could certainly be useful in Wolverhampton to move around for short distances.”
