Driving on the left and not turning in the opposite direction on any London street are not easy goals to meet for all drivers who are used to a different system. It is estimated that 66% of the world drives on the right and 34% drives on the left. But have manufacturers and developers of autonomous car technologies addressed these differences?
Most of the innovations related to self-driving are coming from companies in the US However, they are not the only ones. Five AI is a UK startup that was created four years ago and is investigating to create solutions that facilitate the circulation of autonomous cars.
The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning so that its cars interpret everything around them. In addition, the company has developed a cloud-based platform to manage some challenges that occur inside cars.
The Streetwise Consortium
At the end of last year FiveAI partnered with the insurance company Línea Directa and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in order to create a consortium called StreetWise to help promote autonomous car technology in the Old Continent.
During these months they have tested that driverless vehicles circulate on a fixed route in the London neighborhoods of Croydon and Bromley . Hundreds of 19 km journeys have also been made. The knowledge gathered in your tests will contribute to the development of safe and autonomous mobility services as an alternative to the urban car.
The British startup has provided the initiative with its software, developed and trained using a dataset of complex roads and cities in the UK , including London. In these road tests in principle the cars did not circulate alone. For safety, some drivers sat behind the wheel at all times.
“Autonomous vehicle sharing promises a better way for people to get around. We will be working with forward-thinking partners to make these services a reality in European urban settings . The lessons learned through StreetWise will provide an important step towards that goal, ”stated Stan Boland, co-founder and CEO of FiveAI .
More millions of dollars to continue investigating
The British company has just raised $ 41 million in a financing round that would have been led by Trustbridge Partners, Direct Line Group (Direct Line) and Sistema VC. Thanks to the money, the startup hopes to transform its in-car and cloud systems into products. Five will seek to partner with car manufacturers to incorporate these platforms into vehicles.
In a statement, the CEO of FiveAI assures that “this round of financing represents a validation of the work we are carrying out and the role that our technology will contribute to developing and ensuring autonomous driving”, he stressed.
Previously, in 2017, Five had closed achieved another capital injection of $ 35 million, which would bring its total funds to $ 77 million.
