Meridian 2: connected vehicles data exchange

Overview

The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) in partnership with Meridian Mobility and Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £5 million in a single project. This is to develop one or more platforms for the exchange of connected vehicle data.

The aim is to create the world’s most effective CAV testing ecosystem. The project will facilitate the exchange of data, to test, develop, demonstrate and exploit CAV opportunities. The platform should be adaptable to cope with increasing volumes and new types of data formats which are accessible and appropriate for users.

CCAV expects to support one project. Preference is given to projects that prove they can deliver operational facilities that complement or build on existing facilities within the UK CAV eco system. Projects will be supported through investment aid for research infrastructures. This is a type of state aid that allows grant funding to support the construction or upgrade of research facilities.

Scope

Your project must be globally significant and allow for:

• usage of scalable systems to collect or access, process and share data with users with appropriate remuneration
• development of sustainable business processes and models to improve the accessibility and availability of infrastructure and connected vehicle data
• processing data whilst protecting privacy, quality and intellectual property

Projects should:

• demonstrate routes to commercial viability and sustainable business models
• demonstrate best practice in terms of data ethics, security and privacy, including dealing with anonymisation and complying with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• demonstrate the use of cutting edge technology, such as blockchain
• generate and/or use real world data
• be demonstrably representative of the target environment in the UK, and other appropriate target CAV markets
• have available suitable hardware to develop and demonstrate the platforms and services that will support CAV deployment
• where applicable, demonstrate consultation and planning with road owner operators
• be able to contribute to a CAV data working group organised by Meridian that will inform and influence policy and standards
• support and encourage integration and collaboration across the wider UK CAV ecosystem

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding you must:

• be a UK based business, academic, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
• carry out your project work in the UK
• commit to exploit the results from the UK
• work in collaboration with others (businesses, research base or third sector)

Project Costs

Your project’s total costs should be up to £10 million. Projects are expected to start by March 2019 and be fully operational in 12 months.

CCAV have allocated up to £5 million to fund one infrastructure project in this competition.

You may apply for funding support of:

• up to 50% of your eligible project costs if you are a business of any size
• up to 100% of your eligible project costs if you are a non-profit distributing research organisation

Non-profit distributing research organisations must demonstrate how match-funded investment will be contributed. It must at least equal the funding and can include maintenance costs. They will give preference to projects that meet match funding within the 12 month build phase.

Your project must have:

• at least a 30% industry contribution to the initial investment
• at least a 50% industry contribution up to 10 years from the start of operation

Exclusions

In this competition, they are not funding:

• construction of a commodity data centre
• projects that significantly replicate existing facilities already available in the UK
• industrial research, experimental development or feasibility study projects
• projects which focus on synthetic data
• projects not focused on road transportation
• projects focused on confidential vehicle test data