Jaguar Land Rover To Develop Off-Road Autonomous-Driving System

Jaguar Land Rover is investing a £3.7 million in developing off-road self-driving SUVs in project Cortex. The project Cortex is exploring all-terrain, all- weather autonomous capability and is the world-first '5D' technology is enabling Level 4 and 5 off-road automation. The world-first Cortex project will take self-driving cars off-road, ensuring they are fully capable in any weather condition: dirt, rain, ice, snow or fog. A '5D' technique combining acoustic, video, radar, light detection and distance sensing (LiDAR) data live in real-time is currently being engineered. The combined data will improve the awareness of the environment the car is in.

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Chris Holmes, Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Research Manager, JLR, said, "It's important that we develop our self-driving vehicles with the same capability and performance customers expect from all Jaguars and Land Rovers. Self-driving is inevitability for the automotive industry and ensuring that our autonomous offering is the most enjoyable, capable and safe is what drives us to explore the boundaries of innovation. Cortex gives us the opportunity to work with some fantastic partners whose expertise will help us realize this vision in the near future."

JLR is developing fully and semi-automated vehicle technologies, offering customers a choice of the level of automation, while maintaining an enjoyable and safe driving experience. This project forms part of the company's vision 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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Cortex will develop the technology through algorithm development, sensor optimization and physical testing on off-road tracks in the UK. Cortex was announced as part of Innovate UK's third round of Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Funding in March 2018.