StreetDrone publishes autonomous vehicle safety report

StreetDrone, the company that helps to deploy and scale autonomous urban vehicles, has published a report on safety to aid public confidence in the technology.

The free “Putting Safety First in Autonomous Vehicles” 30-page report is aimed at those in the autonomous technology industry, as well as public transport and delivery companies, civic authorities and universities.

StreetDrone’s report is based on the company’s experience in operating autonomous vehicle trials in urban environments. The significant safety challenges in deploying these vehicles in the context of high population densities and complex infrastructure settings has given the company a safety perspective that can add to the development of improved safety standards across the industry.

Mike Potts, StreetDrone’s chief executive, said: “This is a difficult time for everyone.

“While we’ve had to make some changes to our operations due to Covid-19, we’ve also had the opportunity to write our Safety Report based on the experience of building and running autonomous vehicles over the past three years of StreetDrone’s operations.

“This experience spans the full stack of autonomous vehicle disciplines from hardware and mechanical design through to AI and software, as well as a deep insight into city centre public highway trials.”

Potts said industry collaboration and knowledge-sharing are essential prerequisites for CAV technology to achieve wide-scale adoption.

StreetDrone’s own hardware platforms range from the L7e class Renault Twizy heavy quadricycle to the flexible Nissan eNV200, which comes in taxi, delivery van or 7-seater passenger variants.