New Perspectives Magazine April 2019 | Issue 01

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of coo l ki t wh ic h ca n m o ni t o r an d m e as ur e th e perfo r m a nc e of a ll t yp e s o f co nv en ti o n a l a nd autono mo us v eh ic le s. Its i nt eg r a ti on int o th e camp u s h as ess en ti al l y c r e at ed a ‘li vi ng lab ’ resea r c h e nv ir on me nt . As pa r t of t he i nt er na l co m m un i c at io n s t ea m, I often pr om ot e op po rt un i t ie s fo r st af f an d studen ts to pa rt ic ip at e in o ur r e s ea rc h. T hi s time I t ho ug ht I ’d g iv e it a g o, s o I pu t my se lf IRUZDU G IR U WK H ͤU VW R I PD Q \ + X P DQ ' U LY H trials. +DYLQJ WUL HG I RU W KH Q R Q H [ L VW H Q W FO XW F K a few t ime s be fo re I ’d e ve n st a r t e d, I w as relieve d t o kn ow m y ac tu a l d r i v i ng w a s QRW EH L QJ DV VH VV HG ( Q UR XW H , W XU QH G co rn er s , a pp r o ac he d

Angelisa Allen takes part in a research project into self-driving vehicles and starts imagining what she could do with the extra time they would create on her daily commute. “What would I do with two extra two hours in my day?” It’s a good question and one that was posed to me by some schoolchildren I met last month at one of our outreach events to explain what my job involves. $V D ZRUNLQJ PXP ͤWWLQJ HYHU\WKLQJ LQ LV D mighty squeeze, but conjuring Like most, I have a daily commute. It’s not hours, but I’m in my car for a good chunk of time each day, so I can only imagine how I could put that precious time to a different use. If I could step away from the steering wheel, so to speak, I could have a bit of ‘me’ time, that thing that rarely happens nowadays. I’d probably read a book (the last one’s just taken me many months) or I’d catch up on ‘life admin’. But maybe, just maybe, my wish isn’t too far off. Self-drive vehicles are no longer things of the movies, they are a reality. I know this because I’m surrounded by great minds who are working to make them happen. Just a few months ago, I sat in the driving seat of an automatic Nissan Leaf and, sporting a fetching pair of space-age, eye-tracking glasses, I found myself racking up the miles around the Bedfordshire countryside, a good few of which were along &UDQͤHOG̵V 08($9, URDG ̰ D PLOH RI ̴VPDUW̵ roadway packed with sensors and other bits up an extra few hours in the day is something that even magical greats like Dynamo would struggle to pull out of the bag. Or is it?

ro un da b o ut s an d pa ss e d o th er r oa d X V HU V 0 \ LQ WH UD FW LR Q w i th t he c ar , e y e m o ve me nt s a n d th e ve hi c l e’ s pe rf or ma nc e w e re c o n ti nu a l ly be in g tr ac ke d . A ll of t h i s w a s he lp in g th e re se ar ch t ea m to u nd e r st an d ho w p e op le b eh av e wh en th ey d ri ve , ul t i ma te ly he lp in g to i nf or m th e de ve lo p m en t of a

vehic l e th at m im ic s hu ma n d r i v e r b eh av io ur . The te a m i s se t to u nv e il i t s au to no mo us driving ma ch in e in fo rm ed , in p ar t, b y t h is resea r c h. It s in au gu ra l 20 0 - m i l e ‘ gr an d dr iv e’ DFURVV WKH 8. LQ O DW H LV V X UH W R P D NH headl i n es as it mi ng le s wi t h m u m s on the VFKRR O UXQ +* 9V R Q KL JK Z D \V P R WR U E LN HV taxis a nd al l ot he r ty pe s o f r oa d us er s includ i ng, I ’m s ur e, t he o d d t ra ct or . W he n it ͤQDOO\ Y HQ WX UH V RX W , ̵P L Q Q R G R X EW W K D W WK HU H will be ma ny s mi le s on t he f a c es o f bo th the devel o p e rs and fut ur e u s er s, m e in cl u d ed . While I ’m no t a re se ar c h er , to b e gi ve n an oppor t un ity to g et i nv o l ve d an d t o k no w th at I’ve hel pe d, a lb ei t in a s ma ll w ay , to wa rd s making t hi s ve hi cl e a re al i t y is super - s ati sf yi ng . It’s a b it l ik e t h e ol d t a le o f the cle ane r wh o wo rk ed a t NA SA w ho , wh en asked w h at h e di d, r ep l i ed : ‘I 'm h el pi ng p ut a man on t he m oo n’ .

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