Land Rover wants driverless tech for off-roading

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced it will invest £3.7 million ($A6.5 million) to ensure its forthcoming self-driving technology will work as well off-road as they do on.

Developed under the codename 'Cortex', the new project from JLR engineers will see the British car-maker adapt existing driverless tech to perform in all weather conditions on some of the roughest terrain on earth.

Cortex will work by 'teaching' acoustic, video, radar, light detection and distance sensing (LIDAR) hardware to recognise different conditions like compacted ice or deep snow.

Once it has decided how slippery the surface is, the autonomous driving aid must then make another judgement call on the safest path around an obstacle without any driver intervention.

It's thought most of the cash will be spent on complex algorithms to help the on-board computers interpret the data and make accurate decisions on what the sensors 'see'.

Engineers will also then have to somehow 'download' a decade's worth of 4x4 driving experience to ensure the Land Rover off-road autopilot knows how best to tackle a tricky road without getting stuck, or worse.

According to JLR R&D boss, Nigel Clarke, the plan is to roll out the autonomous off-road capability from around 2025.

By 2030, Clarke says he's confident that both Jaguar and Land Rover SUVs will be fully autonomous both on and off-road, needing no guidance or intervention from its human occupants even in the most challenging conditions.

Before then, one of the biggest challenges facing engineers is teaching Cortex to recognise and assess different terrain in sandstorms or snowy blizzards, where there's limited visibility and few reference points, such as kerb stones or lane markings.

JLR hopes the new driverless off-road feature will win over new fans in both Russia and the Middle East, as well as countries like India that endure extreme weather and a lack of road infrastructure.