A multi-million-pound Smart City Mobility Centre — bringing together Warwick Manufacturing Group’s (WMG) research expertise and Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) research and engineering capabilities — is to be developed in the West Midlands in the latest boost to the region’s growing expertise in driverless vehicles.

WMG (www.wmgwarwick.ac.uk) chairman Lord Bhattacharyya hasrevealed that Europe’s first Smart City Mobility Centre will be based at the University of Warwick’s Wellesbourne campus.

He said: “This is the first time in any country that such a comprehensive system is being designed and tested. This will help to integrate plans for transport systems for the future that have the potential to bring significant economic benefits and improve the lives of many people, who could benefit from safer, less congested and more environmentally sustainable transport.

“It will combine research, transport data, infrastructure and vehicle prototyping to further develop work on connected and autonomous vehicles and electric-vehicle technology.

JLR engineers and WMG researchers will work together at Wellesbourne to design and
engineer connected driverless-capable prototype electric modular architectures.

These will be tested in real-world conditions alongside a specially designed 5G communications network on the University of Warwick’s main campus.

Ralf Speth, JLR CEO (www.jaguarlandrover.com), said: “It builds on collaboration between JLR, WMG and the University of Warwick to develop 5G connectivity in the region. This is critical for new mobility solutions and services that will transform customer experiences in the future and make congestion, traffic accidents and emissions a thing of the past.”