The project has been developed in collaboration with the Department for Transport and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which have created the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (C-CAV) to deal with matters directly related to autonomous vehicles.
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The government has confirmed its intention to put the United Kingdom at the forefront of the intelligent mobility market, with the launch of a £20 million competitive fund for collaborative research and development into driverless vehicles.
“The country’s automotive industry, strengths in innovation and light touch regulatory approach to testing driverless technology combine to make the United Kingdom market competitive and an attractive destination for investors”.
The unit is already working on a number of projects, including tests of roadside communications technology to ease heavy traffic flow and improve safety, and piloting technology that provides drivers with useful journey and safety information.
To be eligible for the funding, researchers, developers and engineers will have to stick to a new code of practice published by the government on Friday.
The money for the investment has been taken from the £100m investment in intelligent mobility announced by Chancellor George Osborne in April as part of the 2015 Budget. These new guidelines will make it possible for driverless vehicles to hit mainstream roads, presuming they meet certain requirements.
“It sets the scene for the safe evaluation and development of highly and fully automated vehicles for years to come and is another example of how the United Kingdom is leading the charge in this area”.
The United Kingdom will lead the way in testing state-of-the art driverless cars, the Government has claimed as it launches a £20m research and development fund dedicated to the burgeoning industry.
The funding announcement was praised by Professor Nick Reed, the technical lead of the GATEWay driverless auto project and academy director at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, who contributed to the code of practice.
He added: “Combined with the £20m funding and the launch of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the United Kingdom is now firmly positioned at the centre of future mobility”.
Meanwhile, in the USA, it has been reported that a bunch of car makers, including Toyota, are backing a $10m testing ground for self-driving vehicles at the University of Michigan.
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Google is road-testing cars over in the USA right now, but United Kingdom trials are still taking place in smaller spaces.
