What happened when a driverless Range Rover Sport was set loose on one of the UK’s most challenging roads

A SELF-DRIVING Land Rover Range Rover Sport successfully manoeuvred the Coventry Ring Road, without any assistance in changing lanes, merging with traffic and adhering to traffic lights.

The prototype was part of the £20million UK Autodrive project funded by the government, which ends this month after three years.

The route is thought to be one of the most challenging in the UK given its various slip roads and exits, and is prone to accidents.

However, the Range Rover Sport completed a lap of the ring road with a limited top speed of 40mph.

The SUV has been modified to include radar and lidar technology – the latter being a measurement of distance by laser light that can then build detailed 3D maps of its surroundings.

This includes detecting other road users as well as road markings.

Meanwhile, the Range also safely navigates itself by using the internet to connect to systems in other vehicles and traffic lights, for example.

Coventry-based Jaguar Land Rover tested the driverless SUV on closed tracks before taking it onto public roads in the city as well as Milton Keynes.

JLR also recently released previewed self-driving pods with ‘eyes’ as part of the UK Autodrive campaign – with the notion that other road users will feel safer knowing the vehicle has spotted them.

A study by the car maker states that up to 63 per cent of pedestrians and cyclists would feel less safe with autonomous cars on the road.

Mark Cund, Jaguar Land Rover Autonomous Vehicle Research Manager, said: “The Coventry Ring Road is known for its complicated slip roads and exits.

“It makes for very challenging conditions, especially when under pressure in the rush hour.

“Our self-driving car is not impacted by the same pressure, frustrations or fatigue that a driver may experience and so it’s capable of turning a potentially very stressful situation into a completely stress-free one.”