Skip to main content

UK consortium awarded funding to develop autonomous vehicles

The StreetWise consortium, headed by UK artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), start-up has been awarded US$16.4 million (£12.8 million) in grant support for its US$29.5 million (£23 million) project. Awarded as part of the UK government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles CAV2 competition, the grant will enable the consortium to develop and demonstrate autonomous transport in London, with the aim of launching a supervised trial of an autonomous vehicle fleet in the third quarter
April 24, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The StreetWise consortium, headed by UK artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), start-up has been awarded US$16.4 million (£12.8 million) in grant support for its US$29.5 million (£23 million) project.


Awarded as part of the UK government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles CAV2 competition, the grant will enable the consortium to develop and demonstrate autonomous transport in London, with the aim of launching a supervised trial of an autonomous vehicle fleet in the third quarter of 2019.

The StreetWise project aims to show that the technology is now sufficiently mature to be safe in urban environments and sufficiently intelligent to co-exist with human drivers, road users and pedestrians. It also plans to demonstrate how this technology can be used to reduce commuting costs, cut accident rates, reduce congestion and cut emissions.

The core aims of the project are to develop the autonomous vehicle technology, develop user interfaces, define and price the service, establish viable vehicle management and maintenance processes, attain (provisional) regulatory approval for that service and insure and operate it to a pre-commercial (TRL5) level.

The project will be delivered by a consortium led by FiveAI working in collaboration with the 7333 University of Oxford, the Transport Research Laboratory, 1466 Transport for London and automotive personal insurance provider 4236 Direct Line Group.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • First UK public trials of self-driving vehicles
    October 13, 2016
    The Transport Systems Catapult (TSC) in Milton Keynes has successfully tested its self-driving vehicles in public for the first time in the UK. The demonstration of a UK developed autonomous driving system marked the conclusion of the Lutz Pathfinder Project, which has been developing the technology for the past 18 months. The project team has been running a number of exercises in preparation for the demonstration as part of the Lutz Pathfinder project, including virtual mapping of Milton Keynes, assess
  • Dynamic charging boosts electric vehicles’ potential
    December 16, 2014
    With an increasing need to use electric vehicles in city centres to reduce pollution, David Crawford looks at various solutions to power delivery. The UN’s September 2014 Climate Summit has added fresh momentum to the drive to increase urban electric vehicle (EV) takeup. It has launched the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which wants to see EVs accounting for 30% of all urban travel by 2030, and make cities worldwide more friendly to their use. Encouragingly, the plan is being well supported by commerci
  • Making cars safer for vulnerable road users
    June 2, 2016
    Richard Cuerden considers measures to improve the safety of vulnerable road users. The competitive nature of the car market has seen an increase in protection for those travelling inside the vehicle and this is reflected in the casualty statistics -but the same does not apply to those outside the vehicle. And with current societal trends such as ageing populations, an increasing number of pedestrians and cyclists encouraged by environmental policies, this is an area that authorities such as the European Uni
  • TSS Aimsun expertise on show in Flourish consortium
    April 5, 2016
    In February 2016, the UK government announced that the Flourish consortium was a winner in its multi-million pound research programme to fuel development in user-centric autonomous vehicle technology and connected transport systems.