SD8304 : Self-driving Vehicle at Heaton Park
taken 3 years ago, near to Prestwich, Bury, England
The heated pods, manufactured by Westfield Technology Group as a part of their Project Synergy, will be* driving visitors on a set route around the park, starting from Heaton Hall and travelling down past the lake. The driverless pods use ‘intelligent perception solution’ technology which utilises cutting edge LIDAR and Radar technologies alongside AI camera systems, allowing them to be fully aware of their surroundings within a 100-metre range. New sensor technologies also mean they can facilitate ‘platooning’, allowing the vehicles to follow each other in a controlled formation, carrying up to four passengers in each one.
The overall aim of Project Synergy is to accelerate the adoption of autonomous, connected and driverless vehicles in the UK. Its partners include Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester, Cisco, Stockport Council, Manchester Metropolitan University and Harper Adams University.
Link
* On the day I visited, only one pod was on show and it wasn’t in operation
Heaton Park, which comprises the grounds of a Grade I listed neoclassical 18th-century country house, Heaton Hall (SD8304 : Heaton Hall) is located 4 miles north of Manchester city centre. Covering an area reported as over 640 acres, it is the biggest park in Greater Manchester and one of the largest municipal parks in Europe. Heaton Park is listed Grade 2 on the English Heritage Register of Parks and there are nine listed structures in the park. Details can be found on the English Heritage website Link
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Heaton Park was sold to Manchester City Council in 1902, by the Earl of Wilton, to be kept for the enjoyment and recreation of the public. Manchester Council later used part of the north side of the park for the construction of a large gravity feed reservoir; interrupted by the First World War, this work was only completed in the 1920s. A municipal golf course (SD8304 : Heaton Park Golf Course) was also laid out and a large boating lake excavated (SD8303 : Heaton Park Boating Lake). The former facade of the first Manchester Town Hall on King Street (SD8303 : Heaton Park - Town Hall Colonnade) was re-erected as a backdrop to the lake.
During the First World War the Manchester Pals used the park as a training depot. The park was also used as the site of a Royal Air Force depot in the Second World War.
At the end of the 20th century the park was renovated and some of the buildings and original vistas from the 18th century landscape design were restored as part of a millennium project partnership between the Heritage Lottery Fund and Manchester City Council.
Link
- Grid Square
- SD8304, 230 images (more nearby 🔍)
- Photographer
- David Dixon (more nearby)
- Date Taken
- Thursday, 9 December, 2021 (more nearby)
- Submitted
- Saturday, 11 December, 2021
- Subject Location
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OSGB36:
SD 832 044 [100m precision]
WGS84: 53:32.1695N 2:15.2788W - Camera Location
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OSGB36:
- View Direction
- East-northeast (about 67 degrees)