Award-winning self-driving market research by Dr Clare Mutzenich of Lacuna Agency (formerly 7th Sense UK).

Lacuna Agency: 2024 Self-Driving Industry Award Winner for Research

What a few weeks it has been for Lacuna Agency! Hot on the heels of winning the prestigious Research prize at the 2024 Self-Driving Industry Awards, and The Quirk’s Ground-breaking Research Project award, the London-based customer experience specialist has now been shortlisted for not one but two Market Research Society Awards – Inclusive Research and Public Policy.

Headquartered in Vauxhall, on the southern bank of the River Thames, Lacuna was a sister agency to 7th Sense Research US until a management buyout this summer. It is now wholly owned by founders Fergus McVey and Claire Harding.

With high-end global clients including Hackett, Rolex, Rolls-Royce and Arsenal FC, it has held the cherished ISO 9001 accreditation for quality standards and ISO 20252 for market, opinion and social research, including insights and data analytics, for over three years.

Lacuna web definition
A lacuna is the missing piece

Strategic guru and CEO, McVey, has a longstanding interest in self-driving, conducting a UK consumer attitude survey into new mobility every year since 2019.  “With our growing business in the future of mobility, and our luxury and sports expertise, the future is bright for Lacuna,” he said.

“Our name reflects our belief that what’s missing is so often the catalyst for what’s next. It’s never easy to uncover the unknown, but what’s easy has never been our focus. We relish the opportunities ahead.”

Co-founder and managing director, Harding, added: “We have an amazing, dedicated team who have worked very hard to allow us to reach this new stage in our agency’s life. We look forward to many fascinating projects and successful partnerships in the future.”

Lacuna team 2024
Top team (L-R) Fergus McVey with Dr Clare Mutzenich and Claire Harding

Mobility, luxury and sports

Lacuna has strengthened its position in cutting-edge automotive and self-driving technology by recruiting Dr Clare Mutzenich, an expert in Situational Awareness for Remote Vehicle Operators, who earned her doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Specialising in UX design and human factors, their new Research Director is leading an increasing number of Automated Vehicle (AV) projects – some of which we will cover here, and some which must stay strictly under wraps until the New Year.

“The new name, Lacuna, means missing part or void,” said Dr Mutzenich. “It’s the same team doing what we’ve always done – identifying and filling gaps in vision, bridging the divide between present and future, completing the picture.

“By using all the traditional qualitative and quantitative techniques, and then enhancing them with new technologies like eye-tracking and Virtual Reality (VR), we shine a light into all those little nooks and crannies, transforming lacuna into launch points for success.”

Lacuna driving the future report
Annual consumer opinion survey on new mobility

As a prime example, Lacuna won their first Self-Driving Industry Award not only for exceptional initial research – a survey of over 3,000 UK transport users – but also for what followed – detailed analysis, extrapolation and the development of practical solutions.

Jointly credited to Mutzenich, McVey and Harding, the agency’s June 2024 paper, “Driving the Future: Addressing Generational Trust and Ownership Barriers in the Adoption of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles”, serves a welcome dual purpose – neatly highlighting the challenges to widespread acceptance, and providing a compelling market segmentation strategy.

Self-driving challenge

“Our study reveals two significant hurdles impeding the transition to shared autonomy,” said Dr Mutzenich. “First, low trust and acceptance across generational groups. Second, the enduring preference for private vehicle ownership.

“At CAM conferences, everyone talks about how amazing the tech is, this coming automated utopia, but what we find repeatedly, year-on-year, is people telling us they don’t want it, don’t see the use in it, they’re scared of it, or just not interested. The industry is stuck in a bit of an echo chamber.”

To illustrate the point, in response to the question “Would you find sitting in traffic more enjoyable if you were able to concentrate on other things (e.g. work/entertainment)?”, Lacuna found that the ‘no’ percentage increased with age – from an encouraging 31% of Gen Z, born mid-1990s to early 2010s, up to 43% of Gen X, born mid-1960s to late 1970s, and rising sharply to a sizeable 65% of Boomers, born mid-1940s to 1960s, higher still for those born before WWII.

“Younger generations may have grown up in a digital environment where the blending of work and leisure activities is more commonplace, leading to acceptance of such concepts,” said Dr Mutzenich.

“Conversely, the Silent Generation may prioritise uninterrupted relaxation during travel, preferring to use commuting time for quiet reflection or leisure activities that do not require cognitive engagement.”

Lacuna L4/5 graph 2024
Responses to Lacuna’s L4/5 question

A subsequent question, however, revealed a far more complicated picture. Asking “How comfortable are you with vehicles operating at L4 or L5?” – automated driving, according to the SAE scale – Lacuna recorded the responses by age group across four levels of comfort.

It identified an interesting range of views within each generation, and a surprising standout finding: While trust in self-driving is highest among those aged 30-39, with 8% “very comfortable” with the idea, this halves to just 4% for the younger group, those aged 18-29, less than the 5% recorded for those aged 50-59, and only a percentage point above the 3% recorded for those aged 60+.

Effective messaging

For those in self-driving, the message is crystal clear: We’re still in the foothills of the public perception mountain, and we can’t take the youth vote for granted. Fortunately, in terms of shifting the needle through effective education and marketing, Lacuna have done a lot of great, innovative, strategic thinking.

“To address these challenges, our SASS Model categorises individuals into four distinct groups: Sceptics, Alarmists, Swing Voters, and Supporters,” explained Dr Mutzenich. “To drive public trust, each needs to be treated differently.

“Sceptics are not really against self-driving. They can be apathetic, or worried about certain aspects – like the impact on jobs – or more progressive – keen to get rid of cars completely, not just replace them with automated cars.

“Alarmists often express strong emotional and visceral reactions, reflecting discomfort with the perceived lack of control and fears about advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI). Often women in older age categories, some may instinctively view these technologies through a lens of potential risks, having lived through significant technological and societal changes.

“At the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the supporters. They’re advocates, first adopters. They tend to be millennial men. They’re likely to already be using some automated features, and they’re first in the queue to try more. They don’t need to be convinced. Then you have the swing voters. They’re not for or against; they’re really not bothered.

Lacuna self-driving segmentation 2024
Lacuna’s self-driving segmentation

“To bring about public acceptance of CAM, we need to target messaging appropriately. Supporters bring a positivity and openness. They can champion the technology. Alarmists need to be listened to, and have their concerns responded to appropriately and sensitively. Informing them about remote operators, humans still in the loop, can help assuage some of their fears.

“The two middling groups, the sceptics and swing voters, are arguably most interesting from a public acceptance perspective. Together, they represent more than a third of the target population. They’re not against, they just need to be convinced of the benefits, both for them and society – how a doctor’s appointment on their commute would be a real time-saver, or how self-driving can increase access to mobility for vulnerable people.

“Matching education to target groups is something we’ve been working on with governments and OEMs, but it isn’t straightforward. You might think Gen Z, the digital natives, would be really in favour, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Alarmists are always going to be hard to convince, and there’s a danger that multiple messages might confuse people.

“Our final shock point on automated and shared mobility is this: Despite all the benefits, and even amongst those who trust the technology, most people still want to own a private vehicle.

“Many people still cherish the freedom and joy of driving, so for CAVs to win them over, they need to deliver an experience that’s not just better, but irresistible. Car ownership isn’t just about getting from A to B – it’s about convenience, personalisation, status, and control.

“To compete, CAVs must outshine these advantages and make themselves the smarter, more desirable choice. With some wary of a driverless future, it’s crucial to sell the dream first – focusing on the benefits, the convenience, and the possibilities that redefine what mobility can be.”

We’ll have more from Lacuna soon on one of the most contentious subjects in all road safety – the moment of machine-human handover. In the meantime, for further info, visit Lacuna Agency

Ohmio Lift shuttle wins Self-Driving Industry Vehicle of the Year Award 2024… and Margate public get to try it

The Self-Driving Vehicle of the Year Award 2024 goes to… The Ohmio Lift shuttle

Before picking up the flagship Vehicle of the Year prize at the Self-Driving Industry Awards 2024 on Friday, New Zealand-based autonomous vehicle manufacturer, Ohmio, offered public rides in its Lift shuttle in the car park of the Turner Contemporary art gallery in Kent.

A statement by the judging panel said: “At last year’s inaugural Awards, Mayor Rob Yates challenged us to get a driverless car to Margate.

“Better than that, we got the Vehicle of the Year winner – although they didn’t know it yet – to give locals their first taste of full self-driving… and the BBC were there to film it.

“Presenting the award to Ian Pulford, Director of Ohmio UK, Polly Billington, MP for East Thanet, set us a new challenge: Self-driving from the Main Sands to Walpole Bay next year. So watch this space!”

Self-Driving on the BBC

BBC South East cover the Self-Driving Industry Awards 2024 in Margate
BBC South East cover self-driving in Margate

Rather than an augmented version of an existing car or bus, the Ohmio Lift was designed to be self-driving from the beginning. With no driver’s seat or steering wheel, it can carry up to 20 passengers, with disabled access prioritised via an automatic ramp and dedicated wheelchair bay.

Here in the UK, visitors to the NEC in Birmingham will soon be able to enjoy rides as part of the government-backed SCALE project.

More significantly, it will soon be operating on-road in Milton Keynes, as part of the StreetCAV project – supported by CCAV, Innovate UK and Zenzic – potentially providing a blueprint for nationwide deployment.

Ohmio Lift shuttle gives public self-driving rides at Turner Contemporary in Margate
Ohmio Lift shuttle gives public self-driving rides at Turner Contemporary in Margate

Self-driving winners

Here’s the full list of 2024 Self-Driving Industry Award winners:

  • Vehicle of the Year: Ohmio Lift
  • Person of the Year: Jessica Uguccioni
  • Consumer Champion: Meera Naran MBE
  • Industry Legend: Prof. Philip Koopman
  • Consumer Service: Waymo
  • Aftermarket: Pro-Moto
  • Design: TRL & RiDC
  • Hardware: Scantinel
  • Insurance: ABI
  • Legal: Burges Salmon
  • Research: Lacuna
  • Sensing Software: Kognic
  • Foundational Software: Fusion Processing
  • Testing: Karsan
  • Trust: Oxa
  • V2X: FocalPoint 
  • Launchpad (Hardware): Oxford RF
  • Launchpad (Software): Streetscope

The event was again hosted by Jim Carey, and the judging panel included Alex Bainbridge of Autoura, Corey Clothier of Aribo AV, Dr Nick Reed of Reed Mobility, and Dr Martin Dürr of Dromos. Check out this little intro film…

Short film featuring nominees for 2024 Self-Driving Industry Awards

Of the other headline award winners, the judges said…

Person of the Year: Jessica Uguccioni

Having played a pivotal role in developing the UK’s world-leading regulatory framework, the Automated Vehicles Act, as lead lawyer on the Law Commissions’ AV Review, her new job at the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) involves driving the UK’s deployment strategy. From designing new legal entities, to laying the groundwork for advanced testing – talk about walking the walk!

Consumer Champion: Meera Naran MBE

Lobbying tirelessly for Dev’s Law – the mandatory fitting of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) on all new vehicles, in honour of her son – this year, Meera highlighted “the potential of self-driving to be safer”. From attending the launch of PAVE UK, to taking a ride in an Oxa self-driving car, to engaging in discussions on rollout, she is a new, much-needed, independent voice in self-driving public safety.

Industry Legend: Professor Phil Koopman

Prof. Koopman, of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, has dedicated his career to dependable software system engineering. In his seminal 2022 book “How Safe Is Safe Enough? Measuring and Predicting Autonomous Vehicle Safety” he deconstructs the oft-quoted metric of being “at least as safe as a human driver”, and urges greater focus on what is “acceptably safe for real-world deployment. Thank you Phil and we wish you a long and happy retirement.

Consumer Service: Waymo

Up and running in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles, the company formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project has completed over 20 million miles of autonomous rides, reportedly with 73% fewer injury-causing crashes than human drivers. Nominated by multiple entrants, the judges agreed that this global leader was indeed the most deserving recipient of this new headline award.

#sdia24 #carsofthefuture … more to follow…

BSI expert panel will answer as many of your self-driving questions as we can in 70 minutes

Wednesday webinar: Join us for self-driving Q&A at free BSI online event (13 Nov)

Ahead of the free BSI Webinar, “Self-driving vehicles: what’s ahead of us?”, at 3.30-5pm UK-time this Wednesday (13 November 2024), the UK national standards body has asked the audience which automated mobility questions they’d most like answering.

Following a brief intro by BSI Transport Standards Director, Nick Fleming, and an update on the Automated Vehicles (AV) Act by Marty Zekas, of the government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, a panel session moderated by yours truly will attempt to answer as many of these questions as we can, or at least start to, in 70-minutes flat.

Self-driving Q&A

Featuring Oliver Howes, International Regulatory Lead at Oxa, Siddartha Khastgir, Director of PAVE UK, Brian Wong, Partner at law firm Burges Salmon, and David Wong, Head of Technology and Innovation at the SMMT, we will therefore be discussing…

  • Early self-driving use cases – what, where, when and especially why
  • Remaining challenges – economic, legal and technical
  • Public trust – myth-busting, autonowashing and consumer confidence
  • Self-driving and shared mobility – the end of private car ownership?

As if that weren’t enough, we’ll be taking further questions as we go along, and the event will wrap-up with a summary of standards by BSI’s CAM programme lead, Matteo Novati.

C’mon, if you haven’t signed-up yet, there’s still time to book your place

BSI webinar: Self-driving vehicles - what's ahead of us?
BSI webinar: Self-driving vehicles – what’s ahead of us?

Mark Cracknell of Zenzic on the latest self-driving technologies being boosted by the CAM Scale-Up programme

Accelerating self-driving: Zenzic’s Cracknell on CAM Scale-Up 2024

As part of its continuing mission to accelerate self-driving in the UK, Zenzic’s Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) Scale-Up programme has become a gamechanger for SMEs who win a place on it.

Supported by the government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), each UK-based tech innovator will receive up to £100k and gain access to the world-leading facilities of CAM Testbed UK, including UTAC Millbrook proving ground in Bedford and the Catesby Tunnel aerodynamics centre in Northamptonshire.

Notable graduates from the scheme include Robotiz3d, manufacturer of the world’s first pothole-fixing robot, cybersecurity specialist Angoka, solid-state sensor developer Oxford RF, and Dromos, for its dedicated lane automated transit system.

Zenzic’s Programme Director, Mark Cracknell, says: “CAM Scale-Up UK is not just about providing funding, it’s very much a wrap-around support programme which provides those successful with everything they need to realise their potential.”

Self-driving expert Mark Cracknell - Programme Director at Zenzic
Self-driving expert Mark Cracknell – Programme Director at Zenzic

Self-driving SMEs

Each winner has a lot to gain from joining the Scale-Up programme. Here’s who won this year, and why, in Cracknell’s words:

Blueskeye’s clinical grade facial recognition technology uses cameras, microphones and machine learning to understand people’s emotional states. The idea is to support the next generation of driver monitoring, driver fatigue detection, so that, as we get closer to level three autonomy, the vehicle will be able to infer whether a driver is able to resume control.

Deontic uses generative AI, these large language models which are very much in the news, to help self-driving software meet the new regulatory frameworks. It articulates the self-driving stack’s decision-making, demonstrating in words how the operational design domain (ODD) requirements are being met.

Maaind is another in-vehicle monitoring technology, designed to mitigate mood-based incidents by detecting signs of stress. It takes inputs from smart devices and applies a whole load of datasets to help people progress their journey safely. Longer term, I could see it being integrated into the main vehicle user interfaces.

Moonbility is focused on accessible and inclusive public transport. Using existing CCTV, it monitors the occupancy of wheelchair bays and provides that information to customers via an app.

Opteran is developing low-cost autonomy solutions using neuromorphic software designed to mimic the structures of the most powerful vision processing engine in the world – the one-foot box on top of your shoulders.

“Last but not least, Saif Systems does what it says on the tin, providing real-time safety monitoring on a piece of proprietary hardware. Inspired by research into filtering techniques for non-deterministic control systems, the software monitors vehicle commands in relation to the ODD rules. Critically, when safeguards are predicted to be violated, it can take verifiably safe corrective actions.”

This takes us to the heart of some highly complex liability issues. “It’s one of the biggest questions we’re grappling with,” admits Cracknell. “The AV Act has clarified liability and, in doing so, has defined the roles required to deliver CAM services.

“One crucial role is that of the Authorised Self-Driving Entity (ASDE), responsible for the self-driving function, but clearly the insurance sector has a role to play. Is it a back-to-back liability chain of contracts and agreements? The groundwork will be laid over the next 18 months.”

The HORIBA MIRA testing facility is part of CAM Testbed UK
The HORIBA MIRA testing facility is part of CAM Testbed UK

Technical Skills

As to the training and qualifications required to work on cutting-edge CAM technologies, he concluded: “When we think about upskilling dealerships and maintainers to handle increasingly connected and software-based vehicles, there are parallels with the introduction of electric vehicles.

“Third parties must be able to undertake things like diagnostics and sensor calibration, and we’ll see a lot more over-the-air updates. Especially for the deeper levels of self-driving software, these will usually be made by the company that provided it.”

Please note: the author produced an earlier version of this article for The Institute of the Motor Industry’s MotorPro magazine.

Another real live UK self-driving experience: Ohmio Lift shuttle at the NEC in Birmingham

Budget day 2024 great self-driving events: Ohmio shuttle at the NEC

Budget day 2024 was another momentous day in the history of Cars of the Future and our mission to chart the development of self-driving in the UK.

We won’t dwell on the £40bn in tax rises here, but, while Chancellor Rachel Reeves was busy announcing the very welcome extension of the Plug-in Van Grant (PiVG), the reinstatement of the 2030 new petrol and diesel car sales ban, and £200m in funding to accelerate local EV charge point rollout, major self-driving developments were taking place.

Self-driving events

First, a stone’s throw from Parliament, at One Great George Street, WMG hosted a high-profile industry conference on Professor Siddartha Khastgir’s Cross-Domain Safety Assurance for Automated Transport Systems – more to follow on that.

We must, however, skip straight to the afternoon, and a trip to the Advanced Engineering Show at the NEC in Birmingham. We covered last month how visitors will soon be able to enjoy electric self-driving shuttle rides from the station to the halls, courtesy of New Zealand-based autonomous vehicle manufacturer, Ohmio.

This was a pre-trial trial – a chance for members of the public to get a brief taste of the coming self-driving service in the safety of the NEC car park. Thank goodness for the press pass, because the queue to try it was long!

Following our on-road trial in an Oxa-modified Mondeo in August, this was another unmissable chance to have a go in a real live self-driving vehicle in the UK – and not a modified car, a built from the ground up self-driving shuttle – The Ohmio Lift…

Ohmio Lift self-driving shuttle at the Advanced Engineering Show 2024

Brian Matthews, Ian Pulford and members of the Solihull & Coventry Automated Links Evolution (SCALE) team were on-hand to answer questions, with the former then hot-footing it to Milton Keynes to display the shuttle at the new MK Smart City Experience Centre, ahead of another eagerly-awaited on-road trial starting next month.

Here, the shuttle might only have been circling a largely obstacle-free car park, but it was nonetheless impressive that the software had only been trained on the route that morning.

The drive was decent, a little jerky maybe, but not on the scale of a London Tube train! The accessibility was amazing, with an automatic wheelchair ramp and a spacious dedicated bay inside.

Wheelchair bay on Ohmio Lift self-driving shuttle (NEC Birmingham 2024)
Wheelchair bay on Ohmio Lift self-driving shuttle (NEC Birmingham 2024)

Self-driving deployment

Pulford, CEO at project lead Smart City Consultancy, has high hopes for the vehicle, with the on-road StreetCAV project in Milton Keynes potentially a blueprint for nationwide deployment.

“StreetCAV has been going for some time now, so we are absolutely thrilled that it is finally at a stage where we can reveal it to the world,” he said. “We truly believe we have developed a solution which can change the future of urban mobility while making our towns and cities smarter, greener, and more inclusive.

“We have worked rigorously to ensure public safety. Working closely with Milton Keynes City Council, BT and ECS, we will establish a city centre control room, connected by a specifically designed communications network, provided by CableFree, which will allow the Ohmio vehicles to be supervised and managed remotely.

“It has been a fantastic project to work on and we can’t thank our partners and funders enough for their continued work and support.”

Ohmio Lift self-driving shuttle in Milton Keynes, November 2024
Ohmio Lift self-driving shuttle in Milton Keynes, November 2024

Mark Cracknell, program director at Zenzic, added: “We are proud to have supported the development of StreetCAV, and to have worked with all of the partners involved.

“Should the trial prove a success, it could lay the foundations for a more connected, inclusive, and resilient transportation network, not only for Milton Keynes, but for towns and cities across the globe.

“It is a perfect example of how, by working more collaboratively and bringing together industry, academia and the public sector, the UK can lead the way in accelerating the self-driving revolution.”

Finally, it is starting to feel like the revolution has begun.

Neil Kennett with an Ohmio self-driving shuttle at the NEC, 2024
Neil Kennett with an Ohmio self-driving shuttle at the NEC, 2024

In Texas, your next order of fries might have been delivered by a self-driving HGV

Kodiak announces new self-driving logistics partners and big name trucking committee

In our recent sensor-fusion feature, Steven Spieczny of Kognic highlighted the successful expansion of Kodiak’s self-driving heavy goods vehicle (HGV) mileage in America.

While the recipient of our 2023 Award for Testing, Quresh Sutarwala, moved on to Applied Intuition, Kodiak has enjoyed an incredible 2024, announcing some major new corporate partnerships and launching the Kodiak Industry Advisory Council.

Intended to help guide Kodiak’s strategic roadmap and inform how autonomous trucks “will benefit the trucking industry, society, and the world”, the high-profile committee includes James Reed, VP of Transportation Development at Walmart; Chad Dittberner, SVP of Dry & Expedited at Werner Enterprises; Anne Ferro, former FMCSA Administrator and President of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators; William Kruger, VP of Fleet Maintenance and Engineering at UPS; Shannon Newton, President of the Arkansas Trucking Association; and Brett Suma, Founder and CEO of Loadsmith.

Kodiak launches Industry Advisory Council for self-driving trucking
Kodiak launches Industry Advisory Council for self-driving trucking

“We’re fortunate to have such an esteemed group of industry luminaries whose range of experience includes work with industry-leading shippers, carriers, safety advocates, and regulators,” said Council chair and Kodiak board member, James Reed. “Their unique perspectives will help to lead and shape the ways we approach industry and driver engagement, industry transformation, and driving public acceptance of autonomous trucks.”

Self-driving logistics

As to its new partners, in January, Kodiak established a new truckport at the Houston facility of leasing and fleet management specialist, Ryder. Described as an “ecosystem-first, capital-lite approach”, it will serve as a base for testing and validating autonomous freight operations between Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City.

Kodiak and Ryder partner on self-driving freight in Texas
Kodiak and Ryder partner on self-driving freight in Texas

Further significant news followed the very next month. In February, Kodiak announced a landmark agreement with supply chain giant Martin Brower to autonomously deliver refrigerated freight for “two of the top five largest fast food chains in the United States”.

It includes eight time-critical deliveries per week between Dallas and Oklahoma City, with the two companies already exploring additional shuttle lane opportunities. “We chose Kodiak because we share a mutual commitment to safety and customer service,” said Mark Grittner, Director of Global Capital, Fleet and Facilities at MB.

“By working together, we are able to benefit from the safety, reliability and efficiency provided by Kodiak’s autonomous technology, while also ensuring our local drivers can continue to provide the best-in-class customer service that is foundational to Martin Brower’s reputation.” 

Kodiak and Martin Brower  partner on time-critical self-driving freight
Kodiak and Martin Brower partner on time-critical self-driving freight

Kodiak founder and CEO, Don Burnette, added: “Your next order of fries may well have travelled on a Kodiak truck! Autonomous trucks are well-suited to the difficult work of long-haul driving, while allowing our partners’ local drivers to handle last-mile deliveries and provide a personal touch for customers.

“Martin Brower’s shuttle lane model is an ideal application for Kodiak that enables us to demonstrate the value of our technology within our customers’ existing networks.”

As part of the partnership, MB has joined Kodiak’s Partner Deployment Program, designed to help carriers establish autonomous freight operations and integrate the Kodiak Driver self-driving system into their fleets.

The Solihull & Coventry Automated Links Evolution (SCALE) self-driving shuttle project will launch in Q4 2024

New UK self-driving pilot: Ohmio shuttles to link Birmingham International to the NEC

Visitors to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham – home to many of the UK’s most popular motoring events – will soon be able to enjoy electric self-driving shuttle rides courtesy of New Zealand-based autonomous vehicle manufacturer, Ohmio.

The first in an eagerly anticipated wave of new UK self-driving pilot announcements expected before Christmas, The Solihull & Coventry Automated Links Evolution (SCALE) project will see a fleet of three Ohmio Lift shuttles (with a safety driver behind the wheel) ferrying passengers along a new 7km route linking Birmingham International railway station, the NEC, and nearby Birmingham Business Park.

SCALE consortium

Supported by the Centre for Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), Innovate UK and Zenzic, to the not inconsiderable tune of £4m, the project will be led by Solihull Council and delivered by a consortium including Coventry University, WMG at The University of Warwick, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the NEC, Coventry City Council, Direct Line Group, IPG and dRISK.

SCALE consortium with Ohmio electric self-driving shuttles
SCALE consortium with Ohmio electric self-driving shuttles

“Connected Automated Mobility (CAM) technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we get around,” said Councillor Andy Mackiewicz, Cabinet Member for Climate Change & Planning in Solihull.

“We are excited to be leading the way, not just in Solihull, but regionally and across the country, in providing learning on CAM deployments in different settings and scenarios. We’ve already carried out a series of successful pathfinder trials here in Solihull, and shown how it is possible to practically and safely start incorporating self-driving vehicles into key parts of our transport infrastructure.

“SCALE represents the next step in this learning and will help develop our understanding around how future commercial passenger services might operate. We’ve brought together a fantastic consortium of experts for this pilot and are already benefitting from the ability to share our relevant expertise and experience.

“Taking place across one of the best-connected destinations in the UK and Europe, this new Solihull-based route will join up three key assets within the UK Central Hub area, operating in a busy but controlled environment and gaining further real-world operating experience.”

L-R: Ian Pulford of Ohmio and Solihull Councillor, Andy Mackiewicz
L-R: Ian Pulford, Director of Ohmio UK, with Solihull Councillor, Andy Mackiewicz

Ohmio Lift self-driving shuttle

The Ohmio Lift shuttle can carry up to 20 passengers, the route features specialist roadside technology, and every SCALE journey will be tracked in real-time from the nearby TfWM control centre.

“This is a really exciting opportunity for Ohmio as we grow our business in the UK and Europe,” said Ohmio CEO, Dean Zabrieszach. “We’ve been involved in numerous trial deployments across the world; however, in the SCALE project, it is evident that our consortium members are eager to progress towards a full-scale transportation service.

“Autonomous electric shuttles like the Ohmio Lift have the capacity to fill a void in current transportation systems by providing first mile and last mile accessibility for our communities.

“We look forward to working with our partners in delivering a first-class project and look forward to continued opportunities in the UK, where the government is taking a leading role in supporting such projects.”

Ohmio Lift electric self-driving shuttle
Ohmio Lift 100% electric self-driving shuttle

Self-driving UK

Mark Cracknell, Programme Director at Zenzic, added: “This is an exciting development for SCALE, one of the six successful projects from the CCAV Deployment competition, which form the most advanced set of commercial self-driving passenger and freight operations anywhere in the world.

“With these investments, the UK is further strengthened and positioned to become one of the world’s leading destinations for the adoption of CAM technology and the delivery of improved transport services.”

Services are due to start “before the of the year”, with the initial project scheduled to run until the end of March 2025.

Early riders are therefore likely to include petrolheads on the annual pilgrimage to the Autosport International show in January. Positive feedback from them would be a notable win in the race for public acceptance.

Then there’s the indy kids heading to see Ocean Colour Scene in March. Which will be more memorable, The Day We Caught The Train or catching a self-driving shuttle? Any excuse to play it… enjoy!

Cutting-edge self-driving and clean fuel technologies on show at Cenex Expo 2024

Self-driving and clean fuel at Cenex Expo 2024

Cenex Expo 2024 at UTAC Millbrook on 4-5 September, branded ‘Net Zero & Connected Automated Mobility’, featured a welcome emphasis on the latter – self-driving in particular – and showcased vital progress on the former – with electric and hydrogen vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and an array of related products and services.

The first stand you encountered on entry was Beam Connectivity, winner of our inaugural Self-Driving Industry Award for V2X. One of the more eye-catching vehicles outside was a classic red and black Porsche 911 Targa, converted to electric and featuring Beam connected tech.

Beam converted and connected Porsche 911 Targa
Beam converted and connected Porsche 911 Targa

Day 1

Headlines from day one included a PAVE UK roundtable featuring new Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood MP, and the Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) awarding its Nick Carpenter Innovation Award to the Callum Skye – a high performance all-electric on- or off-roader powered by a 42kWh battery with an anticipated 170-mile range.

NVN awards 2024 Nick Carpenter Innovation Award to Callum Skye
NVN awards 2024 Nick Carpenter Innovation Award to Callum Skye

“The potential embedded CO2 reductions that have been realised through the use of sustainable materials could be immediately transferrable to other vehicles across the niche sector,” said NVN Programme Director, Scott Thompson. “Seeing the potential offered by UK designed ultra-fast battery technology is really exciting too.”

Full disclosure: we weren’t actually there on the first day, but fortunately The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) captured these video highlights:

APC’s Cenex Expo 2024 Day 1 Highlights

We can, however, provide an in-depth report into the self-driving-related highlights from the Thursday.

Day 2

Apart from Beam, other standout CAM exhibitors included Aesin, Innovate UK, WMG and Fusion Processing, which displayed its new Automated Tow Tractor, set to hit the market in 2025.

Cenex Expo 2024 CAM exhibitors
Cenex Expo 2024 CAM exhibitors

“We are fast approaching a pivotal moment in the evolution of transportation,” said Jim Hutchinson, CEO of Fusion Processing. “The combination of our technology progress and the supportive legal environment mean that it’s time for operators of commercial vehicle fleets to plan for the availability of these vehicles over the next three to four years – much sooner than previously expected.”

We spent most of the day in the ‘CAM Main Plenary’, where notable attendees included #SDIA24 judge Dr Nick Reed, Amy Rowley of BSI, Steve Berry and Clem Robertson of Angoka, Mi-Link project manager John McNicol, and Nick South, Patent Attorney at AA Thornton.

Cenex Expo 2024 CAM Main Plenary
Paul Bhatia of ESA Space Solutions at Cenex Expo 2024

The first session, ‘Scaling CAM Infrastructure’ was chaired by Andrea Reacroft, Digital Transport Programme Delivery Manager at Tees Valley Combined Authority, and featured Jonathan Eaton of The UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN), Mili Naik of Zenzic, James Long of London’s Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL) and Paul Bhatia of ESA Space Solutions.

Eaton highlighted not only the AV Act but also the new Electronic Trade Documents Act as vital in enabling the seamless movement of goods between taxable zones.

“We need to pull together all the clear business models and use cases to drive investment in the connected infrastructure to support CAM,” he said, citing the logistics efficiency benchmark of taking 10 minutes to travel 10 miles (10-10).

Jonathan Eaton of UKTIN at Cenex Expo 2024 - 10 in 10
UKTIN at Cenex Expo 2024 – 10 in 10

Naik opened with the quote by mathematician Clive Humby that “data is the new oil”, while Long outlined some of the amazing testing at SMLL, and, as an example of the detail, referenced The Met Office’s research into sensor interpretation of different sized raindrops.

Noting that here in 2024 we are still talking about a minimum viable connected infrastructure to enable large scale CAM deployment, he put it bluntly: “The coverage is not where it needs to be”, adding that the 3G switch-off is also causing issues for older intelligent transport systems.

Bhatia engagingly focussed on space tech and the importance of satellite communications, saying: “Look to the future and make 6G an integral part of the CAM ecosystem. Satellite is part of the answer for both assisted and automated driving – one of the multiple on- and off-vehicle technologies that brings the necessary robustness.”

ESA Space Solutions at Cenex Expo 2024 - 6G
ESA Space Solutions at Cenex Expo 2024 – 6G

One of the best things about big events is they tend to provide a welcome reminder of the basics – why self-driving is so important. Among other benefits, it can help us to tackle global warning.

Deniz Çetin of Karsan pointed us to the latest deeply worrying figures from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, run by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission: Summer 2024 was the hottest on record, both globally and for Europe.

Using the example of Karsan’s Autonomous e-ATAK, which has been carrying ticketed passengers in open traffic in Stavanger, Norway, since 2022, Çetin said: “People these days can’t believe that once there were lift operators. You just don’t need them now, and it will be the same with drivers and autonomous vehicles.”

Graphic illustration of congestion-busting potential of self-driving shuttles over robotaxis
Graphic illustration of congestion-busting potential of self-driving shuttles over robotaxis

Jim Fleming, of Fusion, predicted the successful commercialisation of CAM within two years. “The UK is moving onto a leadership position in the legal structure,” he said. “Local authorities can take on more responsibility and we need to get the message out that this is coming very soon.”

In a Q&A, we discussed the gridlock-solving advantages of autonomous shuttles over robotaxis, with Ewan Murdoch, of Arup, raising ‘the perception danger of removing the safety driver’ – a subject we’d return to after lunch.

Self-driving supply chain

Following a dash around the impressive vehicle line-ups outside, we returned for a wide-ranging exploration of the CAM supply chain, chaired by David Webb of CCAV, and featuring Teodora Demirova of Zenzic, Dean Zabrieszach of Ohmio, and Dr Martin Dürr of Dromos.

Emphasising the UK’s strength in intellectual property (IP), Demirova asserted that the top high value opportunities in CAM include: Research and technology organisation (RTO), Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) / Authorised Self-Driving Entity (ASDE), software and hardware, test services, and insurance and legal.

Zenzic's top high value opportunities in CAM
Zenzic’s top high value opportunities in CAM

Zabrieszach explained how Ohmio got into AV, having previously specialised in intelligent highway signage. He namechecked AXA insurance and addressed the safety driver question head-on, saying “Autonomy is not autonomy if you have a driver on board.”

Ohmio’s new shuttle – on display in the concourse – attracted a lot of attention and a new public road trial will begin in Milton Keynes later this year. We’ve put our name down to have a go in that as soon as possible!

Dr Martin Dürr focussed first on value for money, noting that the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in San Francisco costs over $5 billion a year to run, with much of this coming from taxpayer subsidises.

The Dromos system, he claimed, delivers vastly better capital expenditure (CapEx) and operating expenditure (Opex) performance, not only than legacy systems like BART, but also than the new autonomous shuttle alternatives.

Dromos on CapEx and Opex benefits
Dromos on CapEx and Opex benefits

“Our smaller vehicles help to overcome the personal safety fears,” he said. “With the added advantage that there is no strict timetable to keep to, so people can take as long as they need to board and alight.”

Operationalising the AV Act

It wouldn’t be a self-driving event without the percentage of road ‘accidents’ involving human error getting a mention. According to Swapnil Pathak, Head of UK Business Development at BlueBinaries, the latest research puts it at 94%.

The final session of the day was a panel discussion on ‘Operationalising the Automated Vehicles Act – Underpinning Secondary Legislation with Research Evidence’, hosted by Ben Gardner, of Shoosmiths, and featuring Prof. Siddartha Khastgir of WMG, Jamie Hodsdon of Oxa, Daniel Quirke of Wayve, and Pablo Rodriguez Corbacho of Applus IDIADA.

“We need to act on the Act, to build on it with secondary legislation, and to continue pushing the conversations at UN level,” said Khastgir.

Much of the debate focused on the requirements for on-road testing without a safety driver, dubbed ‘advanced testing’, before moving to full commercial approval.

Thanks to all involved and apologies to those we missed – there was a lot of great cutting-edge tech on show.

Clean fuel vehicles at Cenex Expo 2024
Clean fuel vehicles at Cenex Expo 2024

For further info about this event please visit the Cenex Expo website

Steven Spieczny of Kognic gives us the lowdown on sensor-fusion annotation for ADAS and self-driving…

Self-driving safety accelerator: Kognic turns sensor-fusion into datasets you can trust

Launched five years ago and already working with household-name OEMs, Gothenburg-based Kognic is very much one to watch in the fast-growing self-driving perception software sector.

Cars of the Future spoke to Vice President of Marketing, Steven Spieczny, to find out about the sensor-fusion annotation platform everyone’s talking about…

Steven Spieczny is Vice President of Marketing at Kognic
Steven Spieczny is Vice President of Marketing at Kognic

“Kognic was founded by two technologists from the machine learning space to address the need for accurate training data for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving Systems (ADS).

“We have a quickly built-up a diverse customer base, including global vehicle manufacturers such as Volvo Cars/Zenseact, Tier 1 suppliers like Bosch, Continental and Qualcomm, and some very innovate start-ups such as Kodiak, a leader in autonomous for commercial trucking.

“We process data from cars, vans, trucks, drones and robots, and feed it into our cloud-based software platform. Information from cameras, lidar, radar, gets pulled into one comprehensive dataset.

“From there, everything that can be sensed is defined and labelled – that’s a road sign, that’s a pedestrian sitting on a bench, that’s a big truck straight ahead!

Kognic annotation

“This tagging process is called annotation. You see it quite a bit in healthcare, for example, to automatically flag broken bones on scans. In automotive, the level of complexity is much higher because the data we’re capturing is constantly changing, literally a moving picture.

“We help our customers to manage and curate this data so they can, in turn, use these datasets to power their AI products through model validation and tracking of performance.

“For ADAS, it started with lane marking recognition, where there are a lot of variables. Then you expand the data domain, which gets you these rare occurrences. For instance, light source object detection (LSOD) is a crucial use case where the reflection of a vehicle must be distinguished from an actual vehicle on the road.

Kognic point cloud for ADAS and self-driving with pedestrians and vehicles
Kognic point cloud with pedestrians and vehicles

“Obviously, in the AV industry, there’s been a fair bit of turmoil over the last few years for consumer vehicle applications. This gave way to a parallel focus on commercial trucking.

“One of the early assessments was that long-haul trucking was the perfect use case – long straight roads, no pedestrians. It turns out this is actually a really hard dynamic to get right – high speeds, sensor range limitations and long stopping distances, especially when fully loaded, contribute to a similarly complex situation.

Kodiak is one of our trucking customers in the US. They’re doing about 70,000 autonomous miles a month now, all the way from California down through the Southwest into Texas.

“They’re a success story in a sector which, like robotaxis, has seen a lot of ups and downs. Kodiak supply a top to bottom autonomous stack, and we sit behind that, pushing and pulling all this sensor data to enable their machine learning to make better decisions.

Kognic pre-annotation

“The ascension of the data scientist is important here, along with the new depth of technology around self-supervised learning, all these very geeky things.

“Data is the fuel for Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) – this idea of programming with data, rather than traditional coding. Our software enables the fusion of data from various sensors and the way we pre-annotate helps to make the whole process more efficient and cost-effective. That’s our USP.

Kognic pre-annotation for ADAS and self-driving
Kognic pre-annotation for ADAS and self-driving

“In the future, we believe, as many do, that everything that moves will have some form of autonomy. The whole world of AI is very dynamic, particularly with regards to self-driving cars because of the vast amount of data involved.

“For something like ChatGPT, 80% accuracy might be ok. For something as safety critical as self-driving, it has to be 99.9%. The principal is the same though – more inputs in order for the machine to learn on its own and be smarter about the outputs.

Sensor-fusion for self-driving

“We agree with Wayve that Embodied AI is the great North Star, but we’re not there yet. It’s unrealistic for the market to assume that we’re quickly going to jump to level 5 autonomy. We’re going to have to build up the capability, and that’s a big challenge.

“Concurrent to all this is the transition to the software defined vehicle (SDV). There’s a Mercedes model which is approved for level 3 in certain conditions in Germany. In the UK, Ford’s BlueCruise assisted driving system enables hands-off on some motorways.

“In a nutshell, the better your data, the better your models will be, and that will ultimately result in better user experiences. We call this alignment to expectation, and safety is the biggest issue.

“The self-driving industry needs a way to accurately calibrate and merge senor data to provide the machine with a very specific picture about what it is seeing at any given time. Kognic has that annotation platform to produce what is needed.”

For further info see Kognic.com

Turbo-charging UK self-driving SMEs: Zenzic announces 2024 CAM Scale-Up winners

To accelerate self-driving in the UK, Zenzic has announced six more exceptional SMEs to receive up to £100k each as part of its prestigious CAM Scale-Up programme.

22 self-driving innovators have been supported by the programme since 2020. This is the fifth ‘cohort’, and we’ve covered the journeys of multiple 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 winners here on Cars of the Future.

The six 2024 winners, in alphabetical order, are:

  • Blueskeye AI – Nottingham-based company building clinical grade facial recognition technology for fatigue detection.
  • Deontic UK –London-based large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence to help integrate regulatory frameworks into self-driving technology.
  • Maaind – London-based company using speech recognition, computer vision and smart device readings to mitigate stress-related driving accidents.
  • Moonbility – London-based company using CCTV to provide real-time information about available wheelchair bays on buses.
  • Opteran – Headquartered in London, provides neuromorphic software to enable machines to mimic the human brain’s driving abilities.
  • Saif Systems – Cambridge-based provider of real-time safety monitoring software on proprietary hardware e.g. to stop systems operating outside of constraints.

Self-driving funding

Supported by the government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), and in partnership with tech start-up supporter Plug and Play, a key benefit of CAM Scale-Up UK success is access to the world-leading facilities of CAM Testbed UK, which now includes Catesby Tunnel and Tees Valley.

Gamma working on Cambridge self-driving taxi trial 2024
CAM Scale-Up UK 2023 winner Gamma Energy is now a partner in the Project Cambridge Connector on-demand self-driving taxi trial

Mark Cracknell, Programme Director at Zenzic, said: “CAM Scale-Up UK is not just about providing funding to businesses, it’s very much a wrap-around support programme which provides those successful with everything they need to truly realise their potential.

“Through CAM Testbed UK, they can test their solutions in as close to real-life scenarios as possible and accelerate their route to market. All the while picking the brains of some of the brightest minds in industry.”

For further info on the CAM Scale-Up UK programme, please see the Zenzic website.