A new international project is promising to accelerate the commercial viability of autonomous vehicles by using open-source software.

Project ASLAN is a not-for-profit collaboration between universities, transport authorities, computer engineers and private enterprise.

It says its open-source and rapidly deployable self-driving software platform has been launched expressly to foster engineering collaboration. The platform provides “mature and stable code” combined with plug and play ease of use, offering real-world self-driving capability validated by public highway trials as well as complete simulation capability for users without access to driverless vehicle hardware.

The project came about because those behind it identified the high investment demands required to pursue end-to-end driverless technologies, saying that presents a clear barrier to progress. The project aims to remove these barriers to entry and prioritise the benefits of driverless vehicles for metropolitan and low speed use cases where they think benefits are greatest.

Mike Potts, CEO of StreetDrone, one of the founder members of Project ASLAN said, “The fundamental objective of Project ASLAN is to focus the power of engineering collaboration on a very defined controlled speed urban use case to enable fast deployment of self-driving solutions. The group that has set this initiative underway welcomes new companies and individuals who share ASLAN’s ambition as the promise of autonomous vehicles has been unfulfilled for too long. Collaboration and Project ASLAN are the remedy for that shortcoming.”