Perfect conditions don’t teach you anything. That’s why the Smart Mobility Living Lab puts ideas on real roads, with real complexity.
Tucked into a corner of southeast London is a place where driverless cars mix with school-run traffic, AI cameras monitor kerbsides, and air quality is tracked in real time – not as a pilot, but as part of daily life. Welcome to the Smart Mobility Living Lab, or simply, SMLL.
Operated by TRL, SMLL is one of the world’s most advanced urban testbeds. Set in the heart of Woolwich, its 24-kilometre route runs through real streets and communities, directly engaging with over 90,000 residents. It’s become a rare thing: a place where the future of transport is tested, broken, rethought, and rebuilt – in the mess and magic of real life.
This isn’t a track. It’s a platform. For ideas. For testing. For learning. And for change.
As a commercial organisation, TRL operates SMLL to help policy, industry and innovation move forward together – and fast. The infrastructure behind it is serious: edge computing from Cisco, high-performance processing from Nvidia, 5G connectivity from Virgin Media O2 (TRL’s long-standing innovation partner), and environmental sensing from Aeternum – whose compact, precise air quality sensors provide live hyper-local data across the testbed. A full digital twin supports simulation alongside physical trials, powered by our dedicated fibre network and integrated urban infrastructure.
But what really matters is what gets done here – and by whom.
When Nissan launched its world-leading EvolvAD programme to explore how autonomous vehicles can safely operate in residential streets and rural roads, they needed a proving ground that reflected the unpredictable reality of UK driving. At SMLL, they tested their automated driving system under real conditions – negotiating delivery riders, people crossing unexpectedly, and all the texture of London’s residential roadscape. The result wasn’t just technical validation. It was confidence that their systems could handle complexity, not just choreography. Vodafone, meanwhile, trialled their connected mobility platform, using SMLL’s camera network and edge nodes to push real-time object detection data into the cloud. This kind of V2X testing is critical to shaping tomorrow’s connected transport services – and there’s no other public urban testbed in the UK that can offer it at this level. Secure Elements used the Lab to run a live cyber-resilience test on connected vehicles. Their intrusion detection system (IDS) was validated and monitored in real time by a Security Operations Centre. Moonbility, a startup focused on accessibility, used SMLL to trial an AI vision system that detects whether wheelchair bays on public transport are occupied. Thanks to the real-world setting, they could train and test their system with actual users, physical infrastructure and real environmental noise – achieving far more than a simulation ever could.
Other clients have used the Lab to validate traffic detection algorithms, refine edge analytics performance, and benchmark positioning technology in challenging urban conditions. Researchers from the BR-UK programme also used SMLL to observe real-world driving behaviour – capturing how people actually respond to transport changes, not just how they say they will.
And we haven’t done it alone. Partners including the Department for Transport, Transport for London, National Highways, LLDC, as well as companies from across insurance, telecoms and manufacturing are all part of the wider ecosystem. From early-stage SMEs to established firms, from regulators to researchers, the Lab connects sectors that need to move together but often don’t know where to start.
SMLL is a proud member of CAM Testbed UK – a national network of eight world-class facilities supporting the full journey of connected and automated mobility, from concept to deployment.
While rooted in CAM, SMLL’s scope now extends far beyond: enabling real-world sensor validation, cybersecurity trials, behavioural research, connectivity testing, and system benchmarking. It also serves as a convening space and live showroom for TRL’s broader capabilities – bringing innovation out of the lab and onto London’s streets.
To find out more on how you can take advantage of SMLL to test your mobility solution in a real-world environment visit Smart Mobility Living Lab: London
And for information on all 8 CAM Testbed UK facilities visit: Homepage – CAM Testbed UK
Written by:
Beata Szoboszlai
Principal Consultant
TRL