An Applus IDIADA-led consortium has been awarded government funding towards the development and trial of technology that could radically reduce the number of multi-car collisions on motorways.

The Multi-Car Collision Avoidance (MuCCA) (www.mucca-project.co.uk) project will use artificial intelligence (AI) and vehicle-to-vehicle communications to help cars and — eventually — autonomous vehicles make co-operative decisions to avoid potential accidents.

The trial will also require MuCCA-equipped vehicles to predict the likely movements of cars controlled by human drivers (using AI methods).

If a MuCCA-controlled vehicle cannot avoid an accident altogether, the aim will be to minimise the consequences.

The project, which is being led by the automotive design and testing expert IDIADA and includes Cranfield University, Westfield Sports Cars, Cosworth, Secured by Design and the Transport Systems Catapult, will also develop data-logging capabilities to create a record of the exact causes of accidents.

In addition, a computer-simulated environment will be created in which the vehicles’ AI systems can practise complex crash scenarios before being trialled on real-world test tracks.

The funding is the result of a competition from Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Currently around 5,500 accidents happen every year on UK motorways, causing over 1,730 deaths and more than 22,000 serious injuries.

Incidents on the motorway network also cause delays and congestion, which can have a serious economic impact on UK businesses, costing around £21 billion a year according to recent estimates.