Oxford boffins develop the ultimate 'smart' car that drives itself and, they predict, will be phased into mainstream showroom cars within 15 years ..

Built: Oxford University Mobile Robotics Group
Research in conjunction with BAe Systems and Nissan. Based around a Bowler Wildcat off-road race car.

Cost: Circa £2million.

Driver: None. Fully autonomous. Drives itself.

Length: 12ft 6 inches.

Width: 5ft 11 inches.

Height: 5 ft 10 and a half.

Weight: circa 2 tonnes (with extra equipment)

Engine: TD5 2.5litre turbo-charged 5 cylinder diesel engine and automatic gearbox.

Boot: Giant 16-core computer housed in the boot  with 2,000 times the memory and  16 times the computing power of a standard family desk-top computer.

Stereo camera takes 20 hi-res frames per second from two 'eyes' – allowing vehicle to measure distance and rate of movement.

Spinning 3-D laser scanners  on roof fire out at the rate of tens of thousands per second to 'map' and measure the surroundings to create a 3-D picture of surroundings as it moves.

Laser scanners on the bumper – left and right- carry out similar functions tracking the road and surroundings.

Underfloor: Computer mounted under the vehicle acts like an electronic 'brain' assimilating the information from the camera 'eyes' and the laser scanners to create and instantly update its 'view' of the road ahead and its surroundings as it moves – steering,  stopping and starting as required – without the need for a driver.

Oxford boffins develop the ultimate 'smart' car that drives itself and, they predict, will be phased into mainstream showroom cars within 15 years | click for more..