New £40 million package to fund commercial projects using autonomous vehicle technology

13 June 2022

On Monday May 23 2022, Lord Grimstone, Minister for Investment, launched a new £40million government competition to fund autonomous commercial vehicle projects to help bring the latest developments to the market. 

It is hoped that grants provided through the ‘Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility’ competition will help bring together companies and investors to create sustainable business models which can be rolled out nationally and exported globally.

Types of self-driving vehicles that could be deployed include:

• Delivery vans
• Passenger buses
• Shuttles and pods
• Airport vehicles 
• Vehicles to move containers at shipping ports.

The government estimates that commercial services using self-driving vehicle technology could be worth £42billion to the UK economy by 2035 and create 38,000 new skilled jobs.

Part of this funding (£1.5million) will be used for studies into the feasibility of using self-driving vehicles on guided routes in place of traditional bus routes and railways.

Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said, “We know that self-driving vehicles have the potential to revolutionise the way we travel, making our future journeys cleaner, easier and more reliable. But our absolute priority is harnessing the technology to improve road safety.

With around 88% of road collisions currently caused by human error, this funding will drive the introduction of new technology to improve travel for all, while boosting economic growth and highly skilled jobs across the nation.”

Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Chief Executive Mike Hawes said, “Self-driving vehicles offer major benefits to society – improving road safety, supporting new jobs and economic growth, and enabling greater mobility for everyone – so the UK is rightly seeking to be at the forefront of this technological evolution. Recent regulatory reforms have helped Britain establish itself as a leader in the rollout out of self-driving passenger vehicles, and today’s announcement is a significant step towards self-driving public transport and goods delivery services becoming a reality. This new funding competition will help drive innovation and, potentially, private investment in UK automotive, ensuring cutting-edge self-driving technology finds a clearer path to UK roads.”

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