Big winners at Self-Driving Industry Awards 2025 on display at Turner Contemporary in Margate
A futuristic array of automated vehicles went on display at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate on Friday (24 October 2025) as part of the third annual Self-Driving Industry Awards.
Chris Curtis MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Self-Driving, presented the flagship Vehicle of the Year award to the all-new Enviro100AEV bus by Alexander Dennis.
Using the CAVStar automated drive system by Bristol-based Fusion Processing, two of these buses (with a safety driver) will go into service in Cambridge within a matter of weeks.
Project of the Year went to evolvAD, led by Nissan, for demonstrating aptitude in dealing with speed bumps, mini-roundabouts, width restrictions and oncoming traffic, as well as rural lanes with extreme cambers and blind bends.
Ohmio won in Consumer Service for its shuttle services at the NEC in Birmingham and Central Milton Keynes. While the inaugural Fleet Operator Award went to Starship for making over a million small deliveries in the UK.
In the individual award categories, Professor Missy Cummings was crowned Person of the Year 2025 for highlighting the dangers of over-reliance on camera-based vision.
Joel Johnson (AKA YouTuber JJRicks) won Consumer Champion for documenting Waymo’s progress in America. Michael Talbot was named Industry Legend for his role in developing CAM Testbed UK, our world-class R&D ecosystem.
Self-driving winners
Speaking on behalf of the Awards judging panel, Carsofthefuture.co.uk editor, Neil Kennett, said: “As usual, our applicants nominated some fantastic people and products for the headline Awards. I’m delighted we could bring them together to give a perfect snapshot of self-driving in 2025 – a range of vehicles either already in service or soon to be, many of them designed and built right here in the UK.”
Supported by partners BSI, Cenex, CCAV, ITS UK, PAVE UK, Tech UK and Zenzic, along with charity partner, BEN, the event was again hosted by Jim Carey, and the judging panel included Mark Cracknell of Zenzic, Alex Bainbridge of Autoura, Dr Nick Reed of Reed Mobility, and Dr Martin Dürr of Dromos.
Here’s the full list of 2025 Self-Driving Industry Award winners:
- Vehicle of the Year: Enviro100AEV
- Project of the Year: evolvAD by Nissan
- Person of the Year: Professor Missy Cummings
- Industry Legend: Michael Talbot
- Fleet Operator: Starship
- Consumer Champion: Joel Johnson, AKA JJRicks
- Consumer Service: Ohmio
- Aftermarket: Silvera Automotive Solutions
- Design: Fusion Processing
- Hardware: Angoka
- Insurance: Apollo ibott
- Legal: Shoosmiths
- Research: Autinno
- Software: QNX, a division of Blackberry
- Testing: Karsan
- Trust: Aribo
- V2X: Beam Connectivity
Vehicle of the Year
We were delighted to present our flagship Self-Driving Vehicle of the Year Award to The Enviro 100 AEV by Alexander Dennis and Fusion Processing. The reaction to the unveiling of this all-new ‘small big bus’, at last month’s Cenex Expo, made up the judges’ minds. It is best in class. Enhanced accessibility. Reduced emissions. Reliable and comfortable public transport.
Project of the Year
We were delighted to present our Self-Driving Project of the Year Award to evolvAD by Nissan, in collaboration with Connected Places Catapult, SBD Automotive and TRL. Their vision was ambitious: To deliver connected and autonomous vehicles capable of driving in a wide range of environments, and to nurture a domestic supply chain capable of sustaining solutions for both the UK and for export. See our recent evolvAD test ride.
Consumer Service
We were delighted to present our Consumer Service Award to Ohmio. Already delivering passenger services at the NEC in Birmingham, and Central Milton Keynes, they’ve given thousands of people their first taste of self-driving. See our recent Ohmio test ride.
Fleet Operator
We were delighted to present our inaugural Self-Driving Fleet Operator Award to Starship. They operate not only the largest autonomous delivery fleet in the UK, but in the world. With 2,000 robots globally, this last mile specialist has made over a million deliveries in the UK alone, serving communities in Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Person of the Year
We were delighted to name Professor Missy Cummings our Self-Driving Industry Person of the Year for 2025. A former US Navy fighter pilot, now Director of Autonomy and Robotics at George Mason University, maximising self-driving safety is her life’s mission. See her recent presentation to PAVE UK in London.
Industry Legend
Recently named Head of CAM Industrial Policy in the Automotive Unit at the Department for Business and Trade, we were delighted to present Michael Talbot with our prestigious Self-Driving Industry Legend Award. See his contribution to the recent CAM Pathfinder launch event.
Consumer Champion
We were delighted to present our Consumer Champion Award, celebrating outstanding public service by an individual, to Joel Johnson, AKA JJRicks. Our youngest winner of any award to date, since 2020, this YouTuber has been documenting on-road self-driving operations in Phoenix, Arizona. See our recent story on his most incredible Waymo moments.
Self-driving first!
Please forgive the geek out, but perhaps our favourite moment of the day was seeing the Starship robot boarding the Ohmio LIFT shuttle – self-driving interaction!
More to follow…