The development of autonomous vehicles in the UK has been given a £2.3m boost from the UK government.
The four projects, which will receive a share of the investment, aim to demonstrate routes to safe fully automated vehicles. The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to fund these projects.
Simon Edmonds, chief business officer at Innovate UK, said: “The future of land transport in the UK – especially in urban environments – is increasingly going to be one where autonomous vehicles play a leading role.
“To make this happen we have to move forward with solutions that are not only ingenious, but also gain public confidence in these new technologies.”
An Oxbotica-led project will work to demonstrate how autonomous goods delivery can be done safely with driverless autonomy. The project partnership includes Ocado Group, the UK based online grocery technology company, as a future AV fleet operator.
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In Birmingham, the Aurrigo-led project will use the National Exhibition Centre grounds as a test bed to develop, verify and validate CAV technology, communications systems and cyber security requirements. It will also create additional test bed sites across the UK to strengthen the safety case for CAVs, provide increased understanding of the infrastructure needed for safe operation and inform UK policy. This project’s goal is to remove the need for an on-board safety supervisor whilst operating in a live environment.
Additionally, a StreetDrone-led project aims to reduce time to market for connected and automated vehicle technology in the movement of goods. The project centres on the use of “multi-driver” vehicles. This can be driven via in-vehicle operator, remote operator, or autonomous driving stack (ADS). The accompanying security and safety assurance, to enable StreetDrone and the UK to be first to market in the automation of the freight supply chain.
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Furthermore, Conigital’s human factors study will be undertaken in a simulation environment to identify key usability targets that will be used to configure the evolved AV stack for testing on Prova Developments and Idiada Automotive Technology’s CAVWAY testbed near Oxford and subsequently on the Midlands Future Mobility testbed in Coventry.
Transport Minister, Trudy Harrison, said: “The four projects will help industry understand and overcome the challenges ahead as we seek to deploy safe and secure CAV services in the UK. Helping to secure our global leadership in this exciting, challenging and innovative space.”
