Jaguar Land Rover will help create a smart city hub allowing it to test self-driving vehicles in the ‘real world’.
The British manufacturer, along with other global software, mobility and telecoms companies, is partnering with Future Mobility Campus Ireland (FMCI) for the project.
The testbed aims to advance JLR’s research into autonomous, connected, electrified and shared vehicles.
The electric Jaguar I-Pace will be deployed as part of trials spanning 12km of public roads – including smart junctions and connected car parks – in the Limerick-Shannon metropolitan area, Ireland.
John Cormican, general manager for Shannon Ireland Jaguar Land Rover, said: ‘This partnership with FMCI provides us with a real-world facility to trial our emerging autonomous, connected, electrified and shared technology in a strategic location.’
The smart city hub will feature sensors throughout the site, providing the facilities to ‘harness valuable sensor data, simulate a variety of road environments and traffic scenarios and trial new technologies’, according to JLR.
Connected roads, autonomous parking and electric vehicle charging will all play a part as well, in addition to linking a 450km stretch of connected highway and a managed air traffic corridor for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Shannon airport.
Russel Vickers, CEO of FMCI, added: ‘The smart city zone provides a first-class facility for global companies to work together and develop world-leading technology, from autonomous vehicles to connected infrastructure.’
As a lead partner of the FMCI, Jaguar Land Rover will collaborate with other technology companies, including Cisco, Seagate, Renovo, Red Hat, Valeo and Mergon.
Cormican added: ‘Collaborating with top-tier software companies will allow us to develop our future systems more efficiently.’
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Great news for Limerick and fantastic to see JLR continue to drive innovation.