Project Endeavour has arrived in Birmingham! The project - which aims to accelerate and scale the deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) services on public roads in cities across the country - has kicked off the next phase of trials in the UK’s second largest city. To mark the occasion, the Project Endeavour partners hosted a two-day showcase to share updates about the project and exciting developments. This is the second in a series of three showcases for Endeavour, with the third and final event being held in our neck of the woods later this summer, when the Greenwich trials begin.
The first showcase, held on Tuesday, was focused specifically on industry stakeholders. The entire project consortium presented at this session, which included representatives from DG Cities, Oxbotica, Immense, TRL, BSI and Oxfordshire County Council. Partners were able to share their specific involvement, demonstrating how each of their unique inputs have joined together to make this ambitious project come to life.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s second showcase was tailored to members of the general public, giving them a (virtual) front-row seat to the project’s autonomous vehicles as they zipped around Birmingham. In this session, members from DG Cities, BSI and Oxbotica provided an overarching view of what AVs are, how trials are made safe and what place they will play in our transport systems of the future. We ran several polls during the presentation with audience members, trying to gain real-time insight into how our messages about AVs and AV safety are received. And what was perhaps the icing on the cake was the live stream of two project vehicles - driving autonomously - on the busy streets of Birmingham. While the demonstration wasn’t able to be held in person due to Covid restrictions, the public were able to ask questions as they watched the live stream, and they certainly got a taste of what is to come.
The event was a perfect opportunity to share the advances the project has made thus far, and of course continue our ongoing dialogue and exchange with members of the public. We’re excited to see how the trial fairs in Birmingham and are looking forward to the vehicles heading down to Greenwich in a few months’ time.
Want to get involved with Project Endeavour? There will be quite a few opportunities to participate in the near future, which we will soon be announcing on our website. In the meantime, why not take your first step by filling in our Project Endeavour survey here?