Vehicle tech to make roundabouts safer

According to Ministry of Transport figures around nine percent of all accidents involving injuries at intersections in NZ occur at roundabouts.

A new autonomous driving research project may help reduce the number of accidents NZ roundabouts in the future according to a local spokesperson.

Ministry of Transport statistics show around nine percent of all accidents involving injuries at intersections in NZ occur at roundabouts.

The multi-million dollar project in the UK called AutopleX which will develop vehicles that can see around corners and through obstacles – improving the capability of self-driving cars.

This will enable automated cars to communicate with all road users and obstacles where there is no direct view, effectively helping them see, so they can safely merge lanes and negotiate complex roundabouts autonomously.

Jaguar Land Rover general manager Steve Kenchington says the technology may help prevent accidents at roundabouts in this country by combining connected, automated and live mapping technology to allow self-driving cars to ‘see' and ‘talk to' each other.

'Someone is killed or seriously on a roundabout almost every day in New Zealand.

'The new self-driving technology being researched at the moment will help make navigating this type of intersection a lot safer for all road users.

'The fact that this is being developed in the UK is significant as in many ways NZ has more similar driving conditions to that market as compared to USA where self driving technology is also being researched,” he says.

Kenchington says there about one roundabout for every 127 intersections in the UK but only about 1 for every 1118 intersections in the USA.

Kenchington says Jaguar Land Rover is leading a project called AutopleX to combine connected, automated and live mapping tech so more information is provided earlier to the self-driving car.

This enables automated cars to communicate with all road users and obstacles where there is no direct view, effectively helping them see, so they can safely merge lanes and negotiate complex roundabouts autonomously.

He says the car maker is developing fully- and semi-automated vehicle technologies, offering customers a choice of an engaged or automated drive, while maintaining an enjoyable and safe driving experience.

The company's vision is to make the self-driving car viable in the widest range of real-life, on- and off-road driving environments and weather.

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3 comments

Kiwis...

Posted on 22-05-2018 12:23 | By maildrop

..Hate stopping at stop signs and traffic lights, so no wonder there are so many accidents at roundabouts. Makes you wonder why TCC is obsessed with putting them in at every conceivable intersection.


Tauranga intersections

Posted on 22-05-2018 17:25 | By maddog

The funny thing is, there are so many minor car crashes at roundabouts in Tauranga is because they planted trees in the middle and made the signs so big which is blocking the view of all drivers that use it, now I think they should remove the trees and make the signs smaller so everybody can see other drivers at the roundabouts and make the flow of traffic.


And this

Posted on 22-05-2018 22:28 | By namxa

Indicators. Use your indicators at roundabouts. Not rocket surgery. Indicators are called such because one uses them to INDICATE which way they INTEND to turn. And yeh, roundabouts on main arterial routes, dumbest idea ever. Is like NZTA has an obsession with circles...


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