Business Minister Richard Harrington has announced that bidding for the new £30 million of funding is officially open. The UK government is calling for bids from specialist UK technology and automotive businesses to participate. Two new funding competitions will also create two permanent self-driving testing sites in the UK.

The competitions, which will be delivered by Innovate UK, are designed to support the government’s Industrial Strategy, which aims to secure the UK’s position as the leading location in Europe in the public testing of self-driving vehicles. The new funding will also create two permanent self-driving testing sites in the UK.

Funded through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and Meridian, the competitions see Government and industry jointly investing in UK businesses to help realise the Government’s ambition to see fully self-driving vehicles on UK roads in the near future.

Self-Parking Cars to be Introduced Next

The next round of the competition will see up to £5 million awarded to projects developing and testing autonomous parking technology. The funding will also go towards establishing public-testing sites for self-parking cars in urban settings, a first of its kind in Europe. The overall goal is to see self-parking cars become a normal feature on UK roads.

Harrington said:

“Self-driving vehicles have the potential to revolutionise the way we move people and goods across the UK. They also support our ambition for a cleaner, greener future as part of our modern Industrial Strategy.”

“The UK is already leading the way in developing this technology and today’s funding will bring self-driving vehicles one step closer to becoming a normal feature on UK roads and could, in time, make learning to parallel park a thing of the past.”

Chair Automotive Council Technology, Graham Hoare said:

“On behalf of the Automotive Council, I welcome the latest developments at Meridian Mobility Technology, the UK’s CAV Development Capability.”

“These new capabilities will complement our strengthening UK Test capability with the advantage of a ‘one stop shop’ mind-set for the industry.”

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