Public road trials of connected and autonomous vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover and Ford have started in the UK.

The autonomous and connected car technology trials are now live on public roads in Coventry.

Taking place in Coventry and billed as the UK’s largest connected and autonomous vehicle project, the UKAutodrive research – which includes Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) – will see the city used for trials of technologies including connected traffic lights, emergency vehicle warnings and emergency braking alerts.

This will include real-world testing of Jaguar Land Rover and TMETC autonomous vehicle research technology with drivers onboard ready to take over at any time.

Further trials are scheduled to take place in Coventry and Milton Keynes early next year followed by a final series of open road demonstration events in both cities during the second half of 2018.

Tim Armitage, Arup’s UK Autodrive project director, said: “Our previous private test track trials showed that the technology works but it is only on real roads that we will start to see the scale of the benefits that it can bring to the general public.”For more of the latest industry news, click here.