Seven projects will share grants from the latest round of funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre, the joint industry-government programme.
The projects, led by BMW, CNH Industrial, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Penso Consulting, Westfield Sportscars and Williams Advanced Engineering, cover a range of innovations which continue to build on the UK’s excellence in this area and will safeguard 2,370 jobs.
The schemes include: the development of a high-power battery suitable for high-performance vehicles; a project to strengthen the UK supply chain; the development of a fuelling system for a concept gas tractor; and technologies to reduce weight and improve electrification in SUVs.
A further seven projects have won funding from the government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles to advance the development of a range of ultra-low and zero-emissions vehicle technologies. These projects will be led by Equipmake, Ford, Great British Sports Cars, Jaguar Land Rover, Ricardo Innovations, Romax Technology and Wrightbus.
“From powertrain, to lightweighting, to energy storage, these new projects will not only lower emissions but secure thousands of jobs, address supply chain gaps, and help the UK become a true global leader in advanced vehicle technology,” said Ian Constance, chief executive of the Advanced Propulsion Centre.
The government has also revealed the first winners of the second round of its Connected Autonomous Vehicles competition, CAV2, with projects set to receive a share of up to £31 million, with funding matched by industry.
The government said 24 projects demonstrated “clear commercial value and identified technical solutions” for CAV technology.
Consortium 5*StarS – which partners HORIBA MIRA, Ricardo, Roke, Thatcham Research and Axillium Research – will receive funding to launch the Automotive Cyber Security through Assurance project. The project will address the increased threat to cyber security in connected and autonomous road vehicles.
The consortium will develop a methodology to ensure that connected autonomous vehicle components and systems are designed and tested to meet the relevant cyber security standards throughout their lifecycle.
The ultimate aim of the consortium is to develop a five-star type consumer rating framework, similar to the EuroNCAP ratings for vehicle safety.
“This project is a major step forward in not only clarifying the risks associated with connected autonomous vehicles for the insurance industry, but also in increasing consumer confidence,” said Chris Reeves, HORIBA MIRA’s head of connected autonomous vehicles. “The project will also help to realise the commercial opportunity that connected autonomous vehicles bring for the UK.”
Meanwhile, Tantalum Corporation and Imperial College London have been awarded £1 million to develop realtime NOx emissions estimation capability to give local authorities the ability to implement dynamic road charging based on actual vehicle emissions in a smarter, cheaper and fairer way.
The system will combine emissions data streams with data on the vehicle’s location and driver behaviour to inform drivers and public authorities of the real environmental impact of individual vehicles.
A major part of Tantalum’s Air.Car project is a 1,000-vehicle trial starting in the autumn to test and fine-tune the solution. Tantalum is recruiting fleets from the public and commercial sectors for this trial, which will run within London and other UK cities where clean air zones are to be established.
“Imagine your vehicle giving you routes that avoid sensitive areas such as schools while rewarding you financially for driving in a manner that saves fuel and reduces emissions,” said Tantalum chief executive Ozgur Tohumcu. “Your vehicle then automatically pays specific emissions charges based on where, when and how you drive.”
In response to the funding announcements, the chief executive of trade body, told PE: "We want the UK to be the destination of choice for the development and testing of this new generation of vehicles.
"Government support and investment, such as we are seeing today, will help this technology flourish."
Meanwhile, legal firm Gowling WLG, which specialises in the automotive sector, told PE that this "vital" injection of funding comes at the right time for the industry when uncertainties about the trading landscape and how the AV market is likely to develop are evident.
"However, ensuring that there is a suitable allocation of funding into AV development versus low carbon vehicle is crucial to promote research and development in the UK and to avoid the risk of one becoming the poor relation of the other," said partner Stuart Young.
"Although the technologies are not dependent on each other, there is a broadly held view that low carbon and autonomous technologies will work very well together to deliver real benefits to society. For those commercial partners already involved, their ability and willingness to cascade work down the supply chain, especially here in the UK, could help further support the industry."