Aftermarket December/January 2023

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2023 AFTERMARKET 23 www.aftermarketonline.net Zenzic CAM Scale-Up Winners 2022 On 6 October, the UK self- driving organisation, Zenzic, announced the seven winners of its 2022 CAM Scale-Up Programme: Axitech; Calyo; Dromos; Eloy; Gaist; Oxford RF; and PolyChord. The selected start-ups and SMEs each win a share of UK government funding through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), access to the world-class testing facilities of CAM Testbed UK, and investment support from delivery partner, Plug and Play. Leeds-based Axitech was selected for its Connected Collision Management Platform “empowering automotive organisations to deliver transformational customer and claims experiences”. Bristol- based Calyo won for its next-generation AI-enabled perception system, offering “an unprecedented combination of high performance, flexibility and low cost for smart mobile robots and autonomous vehicles”. German company Dromos – partnered in the UK with designer PriestmanGoode and engineering firms Buro Happold and Rider Levett Bucknall – won for its “high-density urban passenger and freight transport”. Hertfordshire-based Eloy won for its connected and autonomous vehicle software “focused on multi-vehicle coordination”. Skipton-based Gaist won for its tools to “supply real-time intelligence of your roadscape environment.” Oxfordshire-based Oxford RF Solutions won for its “breakthrough radar vision for autonomy”, while Cambridge University spin-out, PolyChord won for its “uniquely powerful data science technology”. Programme Director at Zenzic, Mark Cracknell, said: “These companies are the future that’s happening now.” Oxford University spin-out, Oxbotica, is one of the leading lights in the UK’s fast-growing self-driving sector, with big-name partners including BP, Ocado and ZF. Here, its VP of Technology, Ben Upcroft, discusses the company’s vision for universal autonomy and its role in sustainable mobility. “Vehicles present such rich problems,” he said. “Solutions will continuously evolve, just like computers – we’ve gone from mainframes taking up whole rooms to being in everyone's pocket. We’re creating a Universal Autonomy software platform to enable any vehicle in any place to operate autonomously and gain all the benefits that autonomy brings – efficiency, productivity and safety gains. Oxbotica is one of very few companies, if any, operating in mining environments, airports, ports, quarries, urban environments for grocery deliveries and passenger transport. It's such an exciting place to be.” On running a zero-occupancy vehicle on UK public roads earlier this year, he said: “We're really proud of that particular vehicle. On one hand, you had the technical challenge, but perhaps the greater challenge was understanding how to work with the government, proving bodies, regulatory bodies, policymakers and certification authorities to create the ecosystem. “It was great to have all those appropriate authorities watching and being involved – understanding how autonomy can go from an add-on to a vehicle driven by a human, to one with no human, no steering wheel or pedals. That unleashes a whole expanse of capabilities for industry to amplify, from deliveries to public transport. “We're not trying to be a taxi company or a mining company, and we don’t want to be. We work with partners that are experts in their domains, and this gains us experience in terms of the benefits that autonomy can bring in different sectors.” On likely timescales, he concluded: “You'll start seeing autonomous public transport, shuttle buses, soon, within two to three years, maybe earlier.” www.aftermarketonline.net Oxbotica’s Upcroft: self-driving will enable countless further innovations