Getting the talk going between luxury cars

A LUXURY car that can drive itself around a city, talk to other vehicles and even respond to traffic lights was unveiled this week – and could be on the roads in months.

The Range Rover Sport’s space- age technology even lets it negotiate T-junctions and traffic circles – and make way for approaching emergency vehicles.

It is part of a £20 million (about R329m) government-backed project designed to keep Britain in the forefront of driverless car design.

The Sport was one of a series of vehicles demon- strated at the Horiba Mira testing ground in Nuneaton before going on to official road trials later this year.

Jaguar Land Rover’s Autonomous Urban Drive technology brings the UK car-maker a step closer to achieving so-called “level four” autonomy within the next decade. That is where vehicles are capable of carry- ing out driving tasks in towns without driver intervention.

It pitches the firm in a battle against its German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Jaguar Land Rover is also working with Ford and Tata Motors’ European Technical Centre, testing “connected” car technologies that will allow cars to “talk” to each other, as well as to electronic roadside traffic signs.

The first tests on closedoff public roads are expected to held in Milton Keynes and Coventry by the end of this year, before moving to openroad trials next year. – The Daily Mail

The space-age Sport was unveiled this week.