Capri

A fleet of driverless pods will begin carrying passengers through UK cities as part of a project to turn autonomous vehicle technology into a commercially viable service. The CAPRI project tackles a persistent gap in the autonomous vehicle sector: most companies have focused on the hardware and software of self-driving cars, but few have addressed the full package needed to actually deploy them. This includes viable business models, insurance frameworks, legal permissions, and regulatory approvals. Without these, even a technically perfect autonomous pod cannot operate on public roads. If successful, CAPRI will deliver a complete, market-ready mobility service that cities can deploy quickly. The project will run a series of trials testing increasingly complex pod-based services, from simple routes to more demanding urban environments. It also addresses cybersecurity for both the vehicles and their real-time control systems. The potential impact is a shift from autonomous vehicles as prototypes to autonomous vehicles as infrastructure—something city planners can order, insure, and deploy as routinely as they commission a bus route.