Driverless vehicle pioneer close to securing £15m of new orders
A COVENTRY manufacturer helping to pioneer driverless car technology is setting its sights on becoming a global force in autonomous vehicles, after revealing it is in advanced discussions to secure more than £15m of contracts.
RDM Group, which is heavily involved in the LUTZ and UK Autodrive projects, is currently in talks with shopping centres, airports and local authorities to supply driverless pods for transporting people and cargo.
The firm has been showcasing its capabilities to potential customers in the Far East, the Middle East and the US and is expecting to create up to 20 new jobs to cope with the rise in production.
Bosses have also recently returned from Texas after being personally invited to the high-profile Transportation Technology Conference.
“Our pioneering work in developing the UK’s first driverless vehicles has seen us attract significant media coverage around the world and this has led to lots of enquiries from organisations keen to be at the forefront of this technology,” said CEO David Keene.
“We have proven that we have the design and manufacturing skills needed to make this new form of transport possible and we are now starting to unearth all of the different applications it could be used for.
“There’s been lots of meetings in numerous countries and we’ve also hosted delegations to our advanced engineering centre in the UK, where we can demonstrate some of the pods in action.”
RDM used the trip to Texas to keep abreast of the latest developments in technology deployment and to meet some of North America’s leading figures in transportation.
The company, which employs 61 people, also held meetings with a number of universities and airports keen to collaborate and explore the feasibility of using its pods.
Miles Garner, Sales and Marketing Director, continued: “Our involvement in LUTZ in Milton Keynes and the current UK Autodrive programme has given us a fantastic platform to lead the way in this technology.
“Shortly, we will be launching our range of next generation pods, operating on our own Autonomous Control System (ACS). These will be capable of accommodating two and eight people, including wheelchair access and cargo variants.
“We are in advanced negotiations with a number of potential customers and invitations to collaborate are happening weekly.”
The Government, through its UKTI arm, featured the firm in its Smart Cities Official Pitch Book, which will be distributed to all UK embassies across the world to showcase what is being done to help reduce pollution and congestion in the major cities.
