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MuCCA aims to develop a next-generation driver aid that will avoid (or reduce the consequences of) multi-car collisions on motorways. It consists of a six-member UK consortium working on a 30-month, £4.6m project, partly funded by Innovate UK. Download Here. [sdm-download id=”1829″ new_window=”1″ button_text=”Download PDF”]
In late 2019, a technology demonstration which only a few years ago would have been written off as impossible will take place. The MuCCA (Multi-Car Collision Avoidance) project, led by IDIADA UK and with financial support from Innovate UK, is developing a collaborative system that will enable connected and autonomous vehicles to avoid collisions. MuCCA-equipped cars will communicate with each other in the fractions of a second before a potential crash – and agree and act upon the best course of evasive action for each individual vehicle to take. Although connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are expected to become increasingly common on our roads in the next few years, many non-autonomous ‘human driven’ vehicles will remain for the foreseeable future, so the system will also take on the added complexity of anticipating the likely behaviour of any human drivers who are in the vicinity of the potential crash. Given the fractions of a second in which the system will have to decide the optimal trajectories and in which the various vehicles will also have to execute the plan, this may all sound like science fiction. And, indeed, even those of us who are working on the project would be the first to admit that we are absolutely pushing at the limits of what is possible in terms of communication, processing power, and sensor capabilities. This is an R&D project, so we do not expect that at the end of the project we will have a system that is ready to be put into production cars, but we are confident that we will end up with a “proof of concept” – as well as a much better understanding of what is currently possible, and where the biggest challenges lie in truly achieving a safety system with sufficient swarm-like capabilities. Simplifying the scope Making that clear distinction between a system that is ready for “real roads” and a technology that is being trialled in a highly-controlled environment has, in fact, been the main factor in helping to move the proposed MuCCA system from those realms of impossibility and into an area that is ‘merely’ extremely challenging. A key early role played by my own organisation, the Transport Systems Catapult, was to define the exact parameters and scope of the project, using our expertise in Systems Engineering and our position as a not-for-profit “neutral player” in the Intelligent […]
The Multi-Car Collision Avoidance (MuCCA) team began a public trial this month to gather information on sensor systems that will ultimately aid the development of an advanced connected and autonomous safety system that aims to avoid or reduce multi-car, high-speed accidents on motorways. Cameras and LIDAR – housed in a roof box on a standard road vehicle driven by a human – will be used to capture video on a typical stretch of busy motorway. To avoid capture of any personal data, the focus on the video will be adjusted so that any faces captured cannot be recognised and number plates cannot be read or interpreted. Understanding typical traffic conditions on the motorway, and normal driver behaviour, is needed for the building and rigorous testing of the MuCCA system. Eventually the MuCCA system will receive information from other connected cars (while also analysing actions of non-MuCCA cars), before making a collective decision about the best course of action to avoid or reduce any collisions. It will then take control of the cars, navigating around the problem, before returning control to the driver once safe. The aim of these trials is to create a dataset to assess the performance (and limitations) of the LIDAR and object identification system, to understand the range over which vehicles in other lanes can be detected and the level of any false positives or negatives. The trial vehicle will carry out a short series of motorway trials under varying conditions, and will not have any autonomous capabilities linked to the sensor system. It is not a part of the project scope to test the MuCCA vehicles on public roads; all testing of MuCCA vehicles will be done on private testing grounds. MuCCA is a £4.6m, 30-month project supported by Innovate UK, will implement, test and refine solutions to many of the technical challenges that face fully autonomous cars. These challenges include sensor systems, machine learning, vehicle-to-vehicle communications and vehicle control systems. MuCCA is Research & Development project funded by CCAV (Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles) and Innovate UK being delivered by a consortium consisting of AppIus IDIADA, Cosworth, Cranfield University, Westfield Sportscars, Secured By Design and the Connected Places Catapult. Keep up to date with the latest news at http://mucca-project.co.uk/ or follow us on twitter @muccaproject Further information The trials will occur on the M1 motorway and connecting carriageways […]
The Multi Car Collision Avoidance (MuCCA) Research & Development project final showcase webinar took place on the 19th March 2020. The recording includes presentations from the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and the MuCCA consortium including, Applus Idiada, Connected Places Catapult, Cosworth Electronics, SBD Automotive, Cranfield University and Westfield Sportscars. The webinar also showcased the first view of the final demonstration video. Finally the webinar finished with a Q&A to the consortium from the audience. If you missed the webinar or would like to review it again please click here.