MIRA selected for CAV technology project after £7m investment
A PILOT project to create a new cluster aimed at developing new Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) technologies is being set up at a West Midlands technology park.
The project, announced at HORIBA MIRA in Nuneaton, has already attracted some of the biggest names in the automotive sector, including Jaguar Land Rover.
The scheme, to create a globally unique test environment for CAV technologies, has been given the green light after receiving a multi-million pound grant from the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid visited the technology park to announce the £7.1m project, dubbed UK Connected Intelligent Transport Environment (UK CITE).
This will enable automotive, infrastructure and service companies to trial connected vehicle technology, infrastructure and services in real-life conditions over the next two-and-a-half years on roads in Coventry and Warwickshire.
The pilot scheme, which will create or safeguard up to 350 jobs, involves a group of companies and organisations led by JLR and Visteon, and includes partners HORIBA MIRA, Siemens, Vodafone, WMG, University of Warwick, Huawei, Coventry University and Coventry City Council and supported by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP).
The consortium partners will create the first fully connected road infrastructure using a globally unique combination of wireless technologies.
These will enable real-world testing of connected, semi-autonomous and eventually autonomous driving in a safe and managed way. The infrastructure will form the basis of an on-going real world test facility which will be open to other manufacturers and technology companies to use.
Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “This project places the UK at the forefront of connected and autonomous technology (left) and will attract further research and development to the UK as well as being used by policy makers to provide recommendations on the investment in future programmes for smart transportation networks and mobility, nationally and internationally.”
The UK CITE project includes a £3.41m grant from Innovate UK, with the remaining budget provided by investment from the project’s partners.
