UK FIRM MAKES DRIVERLESS TECH ADVANCES USING AI

Wayve's cutting-edge Fords are driving hands-free in busy London traffic

- NICK GIBBS

We've been cruising hands-free through north London traffic for about 40 minutes but our Ford Mustang Mach-E now faces a tough test: an unprotected right turn into a busy street.

A parked black cab blocks the view on the left while the broad spectrum of London traffic dashes on by, not giving an inch. But the Ford behaves remarkably human-like, creeping out until it spots a gap and then nipping into the flow without drama.

The demonstration makes a powerful case for what UK firm Wayve calls AV 2.0, where artificial intelligence (AI) makes decisions rather than the car following a preprogrammed set of rules.

AV 1.0 by this definition is Google's Waymo, the pioneering autonomous service operating in five US cities with a claimed 10 million rides under its belt.

Waymo's 2000-strong Jaguar I-Pace fleet is instantly recognisable, but their huge bank of sensors is also the hurdle to wider acceptance. They cost an estimated $30,000 (£22,875) to convert.

Wayve still has a sensor rig on its Fords but claims it has shrunk that hardware bill to between $1000 and $2000 (£760-£1520).

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"We're seeing a paradigm shift here from AV 1.0 to AV 2.0," Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, told Autocar.

However, Wayve's nextlevel approach to handsfree driving is about far more than stripping cost from a sensor set.