Welcome to ICAV. See the latest news and opportunities in the emerging Driverless Vehicle sector.
We are proud to say that our ICAV, has been growing from strength to strength and attracted both national and international attention. I can never wait to share the latest exciting news and opportunities in this emerging space.
Don Dhaliwal, Conigital, Lead Partner @ICAVcluster
Latest News
Tesla starts rolling out its long-delayed Full Self Driving version 9 beta
Tesla just delivered one of the biggest upgrades to its Full Self Driving software in a long while. The Verge reports that Tesla is rolling out FSD beta version 9 to Early Access Program users, and it’s a sizeable upgrade. The update simultaneously references a recently-activated feature that uses the cabin camera to make sure you’re paying attention while Autopilot is engaged. Read More
Grubhub turns to Yandex for robotic food delivery on campus
Pony.ai announces launch of Robotaxi service in Shanghai
Startup Halo will bring driverless car service to Las Vegas
Driverless car startup Halo has announced a new service coming to Las Vegas later this year: a fleet of remotely operated electric vehicles, using T-Mobile’s 5G network. It’s potentially a big step toward fulfilling the promise of 5G remote driver tech, with a significant catch: the cars don’t operate solely on T-Mobile 5G. While it’s the primary network they’ll use, they will also rely on other networks. Read More
Baidu’s Autonomous Excavators operate 24hrs straight
In a new blog post from Chinese search giant Baidu, we learn that researchers in their Robotics and Auto-Driving Lab (RAL) in partnership with the University of Maryland, College Park, have introduced an autonomous excavator system that can perform material loading tasks for a long duration without any human intervention while offering performance closely equivalent to that of an experienced human operator. Read More
AutoX starts production on Gen5 autonomous driving system
AutoX started production of the fifth generation of its autonomous vehicle technology. AutoX Gen5 was introduced at an event in Shanghai and included demonstrations at the Crowne Plaza. AutoX, said Gen5 is a major upgrade that provides seamless navigation of China’s complex urban driving environment. It features 50 sensors and a vehicle control unit of 2200 TOPS computing power. Read More
US authorities increase scrutiny of autonomous car tests on public roads
US road safety authorities have issued an order requiring car makers to report all crashes involving autonomous vehicles being tested on public roads. To date, 30 of the 50 US states permit real-world testing of the future hands-free vehicle technology. The next-generation technology known as Level Five autonomy relies more heavily on cameras, radar, and other sensors. Read More
Visit our Blog to read More Articles.
Member Requests
Conigital are searching for beta testers and early adopters of our product suite. If you would like to be involved in our Driverless vehicle and MaaS trials. Please register your interest here
Featured Events
July 13th, 2021 – Future RAN R&D Funding Competition Briefing. Join this event to learn more about the new DCMS Future RAN (Radio Access Network) R&D competition and make new connections for potential collaborations. This event is designed to brief participants on the scope, eligibility and how to make an application for funding. Register Here
July 15th, 2021 – Engage with: NPL. Join this webinar where Steve Reynolds, NPL’s Strategic Business Development Manager will share more about how NPL’s experts and world leading facilities have supported projects that deliver innovation, uncover efficiencies and bring confidence to decision making and investment to drive growth for UK industry. Register Here
COVID 19 EVENT NOTICE
Following recent developments with the global pandemic relating to COVID-19. A number of events are being canceled, deferred or being made online. Please check directly with event organisers to the state of your event.
Upcoming Events
TRIG: Zero Emission Flight Application Support & Information: July 12th, 2021 – The Connected Places Catapult is delivering the Department for Transport’s (DfT) 2021 Transport Research and Innovation Grants: Zero Emission Flight (TRIG: ZEF) Programme. This webinar will provide further information, offer application support and guidance and give you the opportunity to ask any questions you have about the programme. Register Here
Road to a Resilient Green Recovery: The City of Helsinki: July 12th, 2021 – Join this event in City leaders Dialogue Series as Professor Greg Clark CBE, Chairman of Connected Places Catapult has a fireside chat with Mayor Jan Vapaavuori, City of Helsinki, who will be showcasing best practices from Helsinki that are leading the way in a Resilient and Green recovery following the city’s pledge to be a carbon neutral and climate resilient city by 2030. Register Here
Future RAN R&D Funding Competition Briefing: July 13th, 2021 – Join this event to learn more about the new DCMS Future RAN (Radio Access Network) R&D competition and make new connections for potential collaborations. This event is designed to brief participants on the scope, eligibility and how to make an application for funding. Register Here
Virtual Connections Café: Support and Networking: July 14th, 2021 – Connections Café is the series of SME innovation support webinars that explore developments and opportunities in the built environment and mobility sectors that enable new levels of physical, digital and social connectedness. They offer support and guidance to growing businesses to help them bridge the gap between new innovations and commercial success. Register Here
Engage with: NPL: July 15th, 2021 – Join this webinar where Steve Reynolds, NPL’s Strategic Business Development Manager will share more about how NPL’s experts and world leading facilities have supported projects that deliver innovation, uncover efficiencies and bring confidence to decision making and investment to drive growth for UK industry. Register Here
Future Flight Café: Innovative drone medical delivery network: July 16th, 2021 – Join this event to hear from project CAELUS where the team is designing a digital blueprint to assess the viability of an innovative drone medical logistics network. Moving towards trials in segmented and un-segmented airspace, this project aims to create an innovative logistic network to improve efficiencies in medical delivery which is scalable to a national level. Register Here
Prospering from Net Zero – Industry and Innovate UK roundtable: July 16th, 2021 – The purpose of this workshop is to share developing net zero narrative and strategy. Specifically we would like to use this workshop to start a longer term conversation around some of the challenges we see in innovation for net zero moving forwards. The workshop will be structured around a general introduction and then tackling these themes and others, with a view to getting meaningful feedback from attendees. Register Here
Local authorities: curating places of innovation: July 20th, 2021 – This event will seek to explore the role that local government can play in helping create the right conditions for these hubs to develop and flourish and thereby capture the potential benefits. This event is for Local authorities and central government. Register Here
Assistive Technologies & Remote Medicine: September 7th, 2021 – Take a deep dive into Assistive Technologies and Remote Medicine with the help of speakers from NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG, amica24 and Smartbox Assistive Technology. During our virtual event you will gain insight into the future of digital health, discover opportunities for industry partners, learn about the direction of assistive technology use in the UK and find out about the technology challenges and emerging solutions in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Register Here
More events can be found here
COVID 19 Grant & Support Information
COVID-19: Government guidance for employees, employers and businesses
This guidance also provides details of support available to businesses including:
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
- Deferring VAT and Self-Assessment payments
- Statutory sick pay relief package for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and other Grants
- New lending facility from the Bank of England to help support liquidity among larger firms
Funding Calls & Opportunities
Knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP): 2021 to 2022, round 3 – The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme allows a UK registered business or not-for-profit organisation to partner with a UK higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, RTO or Catapult. Each application must be led by a knowledge base, working with a business partner. Read More
SBRI – Healthy Ageing Social Ventures industrial research – This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition funded by UKRI. The aim of the competition is to fund organisations to deliver social impact. This is phase 1 of a potential 2-phase competition.Any adoption and implementation of a solution from this competition would be subject to a separate, possible competitive, procurement exercise. Read More
CCAV – Advancing safely to full vehicle automation – UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million for up to three automated vehicle projects. This funding is from the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV). The aim of this competition is to continue development of technologies and assurance processes to enable safe use of fully automated vehicles. Read More
Automotive Transformation Fund Expression of Interest: Round 12 – The Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) is a new programme that aims to establish a competitive and sustainable UK supply chain. It offers a share of up to £1 billion of funding for capital and associated industrial research projects. This will be to support the industrialisation of a high value, electrified automotive supply at scale in the UK. Read More
ISCF smart sustainable plastic packaging: business-led R&D – Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £7 million from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Programme in innovation projects. These projects must have the potential to significantly impact the 2025 UK Plastics Pact targets in the long term, and address widely known problems related to plastic packaging for consumer products. Read More
Young Innovators Awards 2021/22 – Young people can apply for an award to make their business idea a reality, which includes a grant for £5,000, a living allowance, and tailored business support. This competition is open to sole applicants only. The aim of this competition is to find a new group of young innovators that, with our help, can turn their great ideas into successful businesses. Read More
Innovate UK SMART grants May 2021 – Smart is Innovate UK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £25 million in the best game-changing and commercially viable innovative or disruptive ideas. All proposals must be business focused. All applicants are required to complete the EDI survey. Applicants are also prompted to consider EDI as part of the application process. Read More
IETF energy efficiency and decarbonisation studies, Spring 2021- Organisations can apply for a share of up to £40 million to carry out feasibility and engineering studies into energy efficiency and decarbonisation technologies for industrial processes. This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations. Read More
IETF deployment of energy efficiency technologies, Spring 2021- This competition aims to support the commercial roll out and permanent installation of technologies at industrial sites. This is the second round of the IETF Phase 1 competition. In this strand you must be an industrial business of any size to apply. You can apply on your own or in collaboration with other organisations. Your project must take place at a manufacturing site or data centre in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and be led by the operator of that site. Read More
More funding can be found here
Featured Jobs
Catapult: Senior GIS Analyst/ Modeller – In this role you will primarily be supporting the delivery of innovative projects aimed at integrating and visualising geospatial data sets across the transport and built environment domains. You will be working with a small group of specialists developing new ways of integrating and visualising geospatial data. This will include developing visualisations to present data and developing ways to analyse and develop insights from a variety of established and new types of data sources. Apply
Catapult: Design Researcher – Catapult is looking for a brilliant design researcher that can help deliver transformative urban technology projects as part of our Programme of work at the Catapult. You’ll create impact by translating research insights into powerful stories that inspire teams and clients and directly inform decision making and the final solution. Insights and use cases are most valuable when they are produced collaboratively. Apply
KTN: Finance Project Analyst – Purpose of the role is to assist the Finance Projects Supervisor to deliver an effective, efficient and robust financial management of KTN’s projects and high-quality support to Budget Holders, Project Leads and Directors. Assisting with improving processes, policies and maximising relationships with stakeholders, both internal & external. Apply
WMCA: Digital Transport Apprenticeship Development Manager – In this role you will be responsible for leading the creation of an apprenticeship trailblazer group and drive the development of new apprenticeship standards in the field of traffic management and digital skills. You will be responsible for developing and delivering the Transport Infrastructure skills Academy and provide transport-related career opportunities through apprenticeships which provides digital capabilities and operation supporting new mobility futures such as connected and autonomous vehicles. Apply
WMCA: Independent Audit Committee Chair – Responsibilities of the role will include fostering good working relationships and communication among all committee members, between the committee, the wider WMCA and internal/external auditors. Key points of contact will be with the WMCA Statutory Officers, Chief Executive, Director of Finance and Director of Law & Governance (Monitoring Officer), the wider senior leadership team and the chairs of the WMCA’s boards and committees. Apply
WMCA: Personal Assistant – The role will be responsible for providing outstanding corporate PA support to the Director of Strategy and Senior Managers of the Economy and Strategy Directorate, and administrative assistance as and when required to the wider business through the provision of effective office systems, standard processes and procedures, forward planning and utilising inter-departmental liaison. Apply
Conigital Group: Cloud Architect – Reporting to the CTO, you will translate business needs to technical requirements and specifications for cloud-based portfolio of products, while improving the efficiency and operations of SaaS products. You will support technical review and have a passion to design and improve digital solutions to be deployed at scale. Apply
ICAV Cluster: Motion Planning Engineer (Autonomous Driving) – As a Motion Planning Engineer, you will be responsible for the development of environment modeling, motion planning, and behavioral prediction algorithms, and software that enables an autonomous vehicle to interact with its environment. You will have the chance to work with expert team & implementing these algorithms on high tech hardware that will allow you to explore algorithms that were traditionally too costly on edge computing systems. Apply
More jobs can be found here
Top Jobs
KTN: Social Media Manager – Reporting to the KTN Head of Communications, this role will give KTN a consistent voice and personality online where so much of our networking is taking place. The role is responsible for enhancing the online activity of individuals across the business. The role will ensure that the recognition of KTN grows and that our audience understands our values of openness, collaboration, creativity and determination through our online content and conversation. Apply
Catapult: HR Team Lead – You will with the Head of HR, this exciting role leads a small team of HR professionals and requires someone who is pragmatic, resilient, and willing to roll up their sleeves to get things done. This position would suit someone who is passionate about delivering excellent HR services and building on new ways of working for the team, people managers and colleagues. Apply
University of Warwick: Software Engineer– 3D Game Developer for Al Research – As an experienced 3D Game Developer, you will be responsible for building ‘Multi-agents in Industry’ (MAI), a library of custom-made and high-fidelity 3D environments featuring real-world tasks requiring multi-agent cooperation. Initial emphasis will be placed on environments arising in manufacturing supply chain – from multi-agent logistics to production control in smart factories, including robotic manipulation. Apply
KTN: Senior Lead – Net Zero – You will lead the successful development and delivery of KTN’s Net Zero Programme. To be KTN’s external champion for Net Zero (establishing and maintaining key strategic relationships) and to be responsible for the Programme planning and the successful delivery or projects and initiatives that sit within the Programme. Apply
Conigital : ROS Developer – Conigital is looking for a ROS Developer to support ongoing development. Reporting to the AV Team Lead, the data scientist will be working within a successful and motivated team. As a specialist in ROS one will have to devote her/his expertise to leverage the current development in the field of Autonomous Vehicle (AV) development. You should be experienced in Robotic Operating System (ROS), ROS1 & ROS2, various sensors, navigation, control system, and robot programming. Expertise in sensor integration, sensor data acquisition, sensor data synchronisation and sensor data processing for modular integration is required. Apply
ICAV Cluster: Data Scientist [AI and Optimisation Specialist] – ICAV Cluster is looking for an AI and Optimisation Specialist, You will be working on Multi-objective Optimization projects in the transport and energy sectors using Metaheuristic Algorithms. You will be working with our technical lead deploying and integrating our propriety EAs algorithms to explore a variety of datasets to drive greater value and business insight supporting near Realtime decision making in dynamic situations. Apply
Conigital Group: Software Engineer – Reporting to the Tech Team Lead, you will take responsibility for developing key aspects and functions that form the backbone of our product portfolio (ConOP™). This includes development at different Technology Readiness Levels, writing functions to analyse data sets, develop prototypes releases of software (for pilots to prove concepts), and “glue” systems together to integrate different business applications. Apply
ICAV Cluster: Vehicle Integration Engineer – Reporting to the Technical Director, the Vehicle Integration Engineer Will Lead and drive forward the definition and implementation of a vehicle x-by-wire interface that will be used to integrate with a vehicle automation platform. The x-by-wire solution will be designed to be configurable across several target vehicles. The role is not just about developing the software but also about defining and integrating the electro-mechanical mechanisms and interfaces with existing vehicle systems (e.g. introducing epas, e-braking etc). Apply
More jobs can be found here
About ICAV
The International Connected Autonomous Vehicle (“ICAV”) cluster has been set up to support new and existing businesses enter the growing Connected Autonomous Vehicles (“CAV”) market. KPMG research indicates that the CAV market has the potential to add £51 billion per year to the UK economy by 2030, create 320,000 new jobs and prevent 25,000 accidents saving 2500 lives per year. Find the latest Market Forecast report by Transport Systems Catapult here. ICAV are based at iCentrum, part of Innovation Birmingham, the UK’s third oldest science park and a base for the region’s growing Tech community.
Become ICAV Member Today
ICAV membership offers great value enabling you to be part of a growing business network of international industry professionals and technology companies in the CAV sector. With annual membership starting at £145 + VAT you can attend all our events and our partners’ events for free or a discounted price!
Find out more about Associate Membership or Founder Membership.