Overview
The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest a total of up to £1.5million for up to three automated vehicle projects.
The aim of this competition is to continue development of technologies and assurance processes to enable safe use of fully automated vehicles.
Scope
The aim of this competition is to enable applicants to further develop technologies and assurance processes enabling the safe use of fully automated vehicles.
Funding is offered to enable applicants to continue development of technologies and assurance processes to enable safe use of fully automated vehicles.
Your project must:
- focus on both technologies and assurance processes
- describe the barriers to adoption that the technology under investigation will overcome
- describe your compliance with existing regulations and standards
- describe how you will provide assurance if your technology does not comply with existing regulation
- build upon an existing ADS which has been developed and demonstrated to function on the UK public roads under the UK Code of Practice: Automated vehicle trialling (Feb 2019)
- define the intended boundary of responsibilities between the developer and the operator or service provider for the technical subject of the project
- progress your technologies, understanding and skills towards the goal of trialling automated vehicles on UK roads which do not rely on a safety driver within the vehicle
- monitor the automated driving system (ADS) in use
- explore the practical application of in-use monitoring of the ADS as a means of assessing the safety of advanced automated vehicle deployment
- have a clear, existing safety case, which may evolve during the project
- identify scenarios and record number of incidences where safety driver intervention is required
- support the development of Government’s safety and security assurance process for connected and automated vehicles (CAVPASS), for example through data sharing or provision of workshops
- develop a clear plan for the future steps required to achieve the goal of trialling on UK roads without a safety driver within the vehicle
- present the rationale and outcomes of your project to the DfT, the Government’s CAVPASS project teams and Innovate UK
- have quantified deliverables by end of March 2022
- be delivered in the financial year to April 2022
Eligibility
Your project must:
- have total eligible costs between £25,000 and £1 million
- start by 1 October 2021
- end by 31 March 2022
- last between 3 and 6 months
To lead a project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size, a research organisation or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
- be an autonomous driving systems (ADS) developer
- have an existing automated driving system which has been tested and demonstrated on the UK public roads under the UK Code of Practice: Automated vehicle trialling (Feb 2019)
- collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, public sector organisations or charities
- collaborate with a potential autonomous vehicle service provider, or fleet customer who will operate the automated vehicles for example a local authority
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
If the lead organisation is an RTO or a research organisation it must collaborate with at least 1 business of any size.
Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
The lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding by entering their costs during the application.
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
Innovate UK will not award you funding if you have:
- failed to exploit a previously funded project
- an overdue independent accountant’s report
- failed to comply with grant terms and conditions
Exclusions
Innovate UK are not funding projects that are:
- new or early stage automated driving systems which have not yet been tested on UK roads under the Code of Practice
- projects creating or developing automated vehicle related tools, such as simulation packages, test equipment, etc
- automated driving systems intended primarily for off-road applications such as mining and construction
- durability and reliability trials which do not progress the technology beyond the current level
- projects focussed on the commercial aspects of a potential automated vehicle service
- dependent on export performance – for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
- dependent on domestic inputs usage- for example if they insisted that a baker use 50% UK flour in their product
Funding Costs
Innovate UK competition.
If your organisation’s work on the project is mostly commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically.
For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
- up to 25% if you are a large organisation
For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
- up to 50% if you are a large organisation
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