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Government-Backed Drive-by-Wire Programme Strengthens EVIE’s Autonomous Safety Architecture
EVIE Autonomous has added to its extensive technology heritage following the completion of a £397,437 Government-backed programme developing a universal Drive-by-Wire platform for connected and autonomous vehicles.
The AIM-DBW programme was formally led by AIM Technologies in partnership with TRL and forms an important part of the engineering foundation underpinning EVIE’s current autonomous vehicle technology.
The project was created to address a critical gap in the UK autonomous vehicle supply chain: the need for an affordable and transferable system capable of safely connecting autonomous intelligence to the physical controls of a vehicle.
Connecting Autonomous Intelligence to the Machine
An autonomous system may decide where a vehicle should travel, how quickly it should move and when it should stop. However, a separate control system is required to safely convert those decisions into physical actions.
Drive-by-Wire technology enables electronic control of functions including:
- Steering
- Braking
- Throttle
- Gear selection
- Dashboard and ancillary functions
The AIM-DBW programme focused on developing a universal “lift-and-shift” architecture that could be adapted to different vehicles rather than engineering a completely new control system for every application.
The programme also examined triple-redundant system design, independent fault detection, CAN-based communication and the requirements needed to support ISO 26262 functional-safety compliance.
Steven Lake, Founder and CEO of EVIE Autonomous, said:
“Autonomous intelligence is only one part of a complete autonomous machine. The system also needs a secure and dependable way of controlling the steering, brakes, throttle and every other safety-critical vehicle function.
“This programme helped us develop the experience and architecture needed to bridge that gap. The ability to transfer safe electronic control between different vehicle types remains central to EVIE’s commercial proposition today.”
Technology That Can Move Between Vehicles
The programme was developed with support from TRL, bringing specialist knowledge of safety assurance, regulation and validation.
Its validation plan included integration with an EVIE electric pod and an off-road autonomous 4×4 platform, demonstrating how the same fundamental Drive-by-Wire approach could support significantly different machines.
The experience gained through AIM-DBW contributes to EVIE’s present-day separation between ARLO, the autonomous intelligence operator, and Watchdog, the independent safety-critical control layer.
This architecture allows EVIE to integrate autonomous capability into suitable machines while protecting the vehicle from unsafe, conflicting or unexpected commands.