Venturer

Driverless cars are about to share real roads with cyclists, pedestrians, and erratic human drivers in Bristol, and researchers want to know how the public will react before the technology goes mainstream. The core problem is trust. Autonomous vehicles already work well on empty test tracks, but dense city streets are far messier. People worry about how a robot car will handle a child running into the road, a cyclist swerving, or a driver ignoring a red light. Without public confidence, the safety and emissions benefits of self-driving cars will never materialise. VENTURER fills this gap by combining insurance data, social surveys, and real-world trials of cars and electric passenger pods with a virtual simulation that can test thousands of tricky scenarios safely. If the project succeeds, it will produce evidence that policymakers can use to shape regulations, insurance rules, and road infrastructure. That could mean clearer legal frameworks for autonomous vehicles, safer integration with cyclists and pedestrians, and a managed transition that avoids public backlash. The Bristol testing grounds will also become a permanent resource for future trials. The work is applied and policy-focused—it does not aim to invent new self-driving hardware, but to solve the human and regulatory puzzle that currently blocks deployment.