Project V-CAL, led by the North East Automotive Alliance, will run the four vehicles on private roads where they will navigate traffic lights, roundabouts and other road users. The work, in partnership with Vantec, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK, StreetDrone, Nokia, Newcastle University, Angoka and Womble Bond Dickinson (UK), has been awarded £4 million by government, matched by £4m from industry. The HGVs will operate without any personnel on board but will be monitored by a remote safety driver as backup.
Project V-CAL is one of two projects in the area that has been awarded a share of £84 million in joint government and industry support for autonomous transport technology.
Additionally, the Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle project will trial three self-driving zero emission Aurrigo Auto-Shuttles, which will transport passengers on public roads between Sunderland Interchange, the Sunderland Royal Hospital, and the University of Sunderland City Campus. While safety drivers will be onboard, the project will develop and demonstrate a cyber secure remote supervision protocol, an important step towards commercial deployment. The project has been awarded £3m by the government, matched by industry to a total £6m and is led by Sunderland City Council in partnership with Aurrigo, Stagecoach, Angoka, Newcastle University, Swansea University and BAI Communications.
The grants, part of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Connected and Automated Mobility programme, will help British companies seize early opportunities to develop experimental projects into offerings ready for the market.