UK-based Arrival’s automated driving system (ADS) has completed a live demonstration at a fully functioning parcel depot.

This is the first time an Arrival van has manoeuvred around a facility without a human driver inside the vehicle. The vehicle was able to complete autonomously all operations that are performed on a daily basis by a commercial fleet driver.

These technologies improve safety and efficiency in depots. Arrival has been developing its autonomous driving functionality for the Arrival van as part of Robopilot, a project designed to improve the market knowledge, functionality and public perception of autonomous driving systems. The technology then can be adapted for the planned rollout of all Arrival vehicles including its bus and car.

“At Arrival, we are building supplementary technologies that will help drivers,” said Max Kumskoy, head of automated driving at Arrival. “Depot manoeuvres are the most accident-prone parts of a worker’s shift and, with our technology, we hope to introduce greater safety by removing human driving errors happening in confined environments. We are starting with a fixed controlled environment in the depot, where we are truly able to test and validate our technology. We can then understand how it will operate on public roads, in our vehicles, and how it can be implemented worldwide.”

Robopilot is part-funded by Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV).

Through the project, Arrival has been able to develop and test its own ADS, which uses in-house algorithms combined with hardware helping to fast-track the development of self-driving technology and showcase its capabilities. The company is developing a scalable commercial ADS that relies on computer vision and avoids expensive sensing technologies.

Arrival is also making HD maps or high-precision GPS completely unnecessary for driving on public roads. Maps will be able to be used as an optional source of data when navigating in a fixed and controlled environment, such as a parcel depot.

Following the completion of testing and validation of the ADS in a fixed controlled environment, Arrival will begin testing its autonomous driving functionalities on roads in the UK. Its aim is for the application to be used in vans across the globe.

“Arrival is playing a critical role in the UK innovation and transport sector by bringing together organisations from across technologies, skills and services,” said the UK’s minister of investment, Lord Grimstone. “It’s brilliant to see the projects being developed here picked up and exported around the world.”

Arrival, a joint stock company governed by the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in London and Charlotte, North Carolina, with more than 2100 global employees in offices across the USA, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, Russia and Luxembourg. The company is deploying its first four microfactories in North Carolina and South Carolina, and Bicester in the UK and Madrid in Spain.