Self-driving Jaguars and Land Rovers could be here sooner than later

Self-driving Jaguars and Land Rovers could be here sooner than you might think, or hope, after an agreement between the car manufacturer and tech giant Nvidia was signed.

The partnership means Nvidia will work closely with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to develop automated driving technologies. By 2025, all JLR vehicles will be rolled out with Nvidia software. The same year the two brands will begin solely making electric vehicles.

Nvidia has chalked out implementing Level 3 autonomous driving software into JLR cars starting 2025.

Level 3, or conditional automation, allows vehicles to complete simple tasks independently. Cars could drive themselves on highways but give the driver control back for other tasks, such as city driving or road works.

“The highly automated and self-driving features will cover active safety, automated driving and parking systems as well as driver assistance,” Nvidia said.

Jaguar Land Rover has actually been involved in automated driving development for many years. In 2016 JLR said they were working on an off-road self-drive system. Jaguar also offered a fleet of I-Pace cars to Waymo for automated prototype testing.

However, the Nvidia partnership means JLR’s production vehicles will have some degree of conditional automation for the first time.

As for when complete automation (Level 5) becomes a readily available product, Nvidia is proceeding with caution. It seems some of the well-publicised fails of rival self-driving technologies means Nvidia is content to hold off.

Watch: Tesla Full Self Driving makes utter dogs breakfast of short drive

That and some legal issues need to be sussed out first.

“The speed at which they can progress to greater autonomous driving will depend on the legal framework in three years’ time,” a Nvidia spokesperson said.

JLR isn’t the first car maker to have Nvidia develop autonomous driving technology for them. The American tech firm also has ties with Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Lotus.