South Australia's global connected car technology company, Cohda Wireless, has received $2 million in funding from the South Australian Government to test autonomous driving solutions on streets and highways in Adelaide.
The funding is part of the state government’s Future Mobility Lab Fund which will provide $10 million over the next three years to projects that demonstrate, develop or contribute to the applied research of future mobility technologies.
Under the grants scheme, the South Australian Government will award grants to projects that contribute to Adelaide’s Smart City initiative and position South Australia as a competitive test bed for Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV).
Cohda will use the grants to test the company’s new CAV applications on Adelaide roads.
{loadposition peter}And, part of the grant will be used to acquire two autonomous vehicles capable of driverless operation in urban and highway environments.
Cohda Wireless chief executive Paul Gray said South Australia was the ideal location to develop CAV technology.
“Not only was South Australia the first state in Australia to pass laws allowing autonomous vehicles to be tested on the road, but The Future Mobility Lab Fund demonstrates the South Australian Government’s commitment to fostering new technologies and new industries in the State.”
Cohda Wireless, a global supplier of Vehicle-to-Vehicle, Vehicle-to-Infrastructure and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian — collectively called V2X — connected vehicle solutions, is now developing CAV solutions for carmakers, smart cities and mining.
The company’s CAV products focus on solving key outstanding problems for CAV deployments – CAV localisation, sensor fidelity, and system cost.
According to Cohda chief technology officer Paul Alexander, the company is in a “unique position” to tackle these problems.
“With a history of connected and autonomous vehicle projects including the Freight Signal Priority trial in NSW and the Jaguar Land Rover Off-Road Connected Convoy, we are deploying cutting-edge technology and believe Cohda Wireless will be a major player in CAV globally.”