SpatialOS dev Improbable working on Minority Report-style self-driving cars

London-based tech start-up Improbable has embarked on a new project that could lead to creation of self-driven cars and automated traffic.

The technology firm, which recently announced its new SpatialOS tech for building bigger and more active open worlds, has joined forces with Immense Simulations for a collaborative R&D project that will seek “a new solution for the coordination of autonomous vehicle fleets”.

Immense will use SpatialOS to develop “tools for autonomous logistics operations and management”, which will help the two firms explore co-operative routing, fleet operations, predictive vehicle health management and real-time traffic management at a city-wide scale.

Yes, it sounds like Minority Report.

“Research in autonomous vehicles has so far centred on the technical problem of removing drivers,” said Improbable CEO Herman Narula. “This ambitious project will fill a much needed gap: how we then optimise these vehicles on a huge scale to ensure they fulfil the promise of greater efficiency. 

“Equally, little effort has been made in understanding the indirect consequences of introducing the autonomous vehicles. The ability to simulate the potential effects of these fleets will be invaluable to the industry.”

We recently spoke to Narula about the potential for SpatialOS to create living, breathing game worlds – essentially building Ready Player One’s OASIS.