Completed Engineering Clean Energy

Smart Mobility Living Lab:

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Smll Limited
Funding £13.3M
Period Mar 2018 — Oct 2023

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

London’s streets and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park are becoming a real-world test track for autonomous vehicles, driverless pods, and connected transport systems. Businesses will trial self-driving cars on busy roads, test short-range driverless shuttles (1–2 miles from train stations to venues), and use large data sets to smooth traffic flow. The project addresses a critical gap: most autonomous vehicle testing happens in controlled or suburban settings, not in the dense, chaotic environment of a global city. If successful, the Smart Mobility Living Lab could accelerate how quickly driverless technology is proven safe and practical for everyday urban use. It also explores fully integrated transport systems that require minimal passenger input—potentially reshaping how people move through cities, how logistics companies deliver goods, and how traffic management works behind the scenes. The UK government funds this as part of a broader push to lead the emerging market for future mobility. The project does not itself develop new vehicles or algorithms; it provides the infrastructure and real-world conditions for companies to test and refine their own innovations.

View original technical description
Our vision is to create a world leading test environment for the development of future mobility solutions in London. The Smart Mobility Living Lab based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich (RBG) and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP). Businesses will be able to test their ideas, technology and services, examples include: • Testing autonomous and connected vehicles on real roads safely • Exploring the relationship and interaction between autonomous vehicles and people in complex and busy real world environments • Testing the use of driverless pods to carry people short distances (1-2 miles) from transport nodes, i.e. railway and underground stations to major venues or destinations • Exploring the use of large data sets to improve the flow of traffic and people • Exploring how much more can be achieved through a more integrated transport system that requires little interaction from the passenger • Exploring the benefits of new technology for logistics companies This is an exciting project and part of the UK Governments commitment for the UK to be at the forefront of this new and rapidly evolving market. Investment will give UK industry the opportunity to take the lead and reinforce its position as a leader in this field.

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Original classification

Collaborative R&D

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.