Nissan Leaf electric car (2012), converted to RobotCar autonomous vehicle by Oxford Robotics Institute, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, 2012-2015

The RobotCar was the first car to be granted permission to drive autonomously on UK roads undertaking its first public road trial on June 13, 2013. The vehicle is an adapted all-electric Nissan LEAF modified with the addition of an Autonomy Control System (ACS) by the Mobile Robotics Group (now Oxford Robotics Institute), University of Oxford. This system uses cameras, GPS and LIDAR equipment that helps it to collect data about its environment and guide it safely on the road without driver intervention.

The car underwent a two-part testing process. Firstly, the Mobile Robotics Group tested the car in autonomous mode in Oxfordshire and, secondly, they drove the car non-autonomously on a set route through Oxford city centre for one year to collect data about the city and its changing road conditions over a long period of time. This technology has since been used in a range of settings from goods-yards to the plains of Mars.