Aurrigo, the dedicated autonomous vehicle division of RDM Group, has teamed up with Smart Cambridge – a collaboration of Cambridgeshire Country Council and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) – to successfully bid for £3.2 million of government funding to develop the innovative transport solution.
The multi-million grant from the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) will be used to build and trial six 10-15 seater self-driving shuttles to operate on the Southern section of the existing guided busway, initially for an out-of-hours service, when buses aren’t running.
Explained Aurrigo’s Autonomous Mobility Programmes director Dr Richard Fairchild: “This is a fantastic way to start what will be a very big year for Aurrigo, with other autonomous trials using our pods also set to start in Australia, Canada and the US.
“Working in partnership with Smart Cambridge, we will be creating a cost-effective and efficient service that will benefit shift workers, weekend shoppers and revellers in the City. It also gives us a fantastic platform to showcase the UK as a leader in the design and engineering of autonomous technology.”
He continues: “The guided busway is segregated from general traffic and, therefore, offers a unique opportunity to safely trial autonomous vehicles running past major residential and employment sites.
“Based on our Pod Zero concept, the shuttle will be the first time we will have built a vehicle that can seat 10 to 15 people. We are hoping this will change people’s thinking and prove the viability of autonomous vehicles for moving groups of passengers over short distances.”
Aurrigo has already started recruiting for the project, with up to 10 jobs being created to manage the project in Cambridge and on the firm’s dedicated production line at its Advanced Manufacturing Centre in Coventry.
The first shuttle will be engineered and ready for prototype testing by April 2019, with the first passengers set to step on board in Summer 2020. If successful, self-driving vehicles could then be rolled-out elsewhere round Greater Cambridge.
