LONDON, UK: Aurrigo International plc, a leading international provider of transport technology solutions, has been awarded a grant for approximately £0.7m through Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles’ (CCAV) Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) competition.

As part of the Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle (“SAMS”) project, Aurrigo is being funded to provide three self-driving zero-emission Auto-Shuttles, which will transport passengers between Sunderland Interchange, Sunderland Royal Hospital and the University of Sunderland City Campus. The project will research, build, trial and evaluate the deployment of a highly automated, remotely supervised, zero-emission passenger mobility service within the City of Sunderland.

Development work is expected to commence in March, with the aim of demonstrating a sustainable commercial service during 2024.

The SAMS project has been awarded a combined £3m in grant funding, which has been matched by industry contributions to bring total funding to £5.5m. Aurrigo is partnering with Sunderland City Council, Busways Travel Services Ltd, Angoka Ltd, Newcastle University, Swansea University, and BAI Communications.

The UK Government is awarding £42m to seven projects through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles’ Commercialising Connected and Automated Mobility competition.

Prof. David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo, commented: “This grant enables us to build three brand new, bespoke Auto-Shuttles for the SAMS project. This programme will be a great opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of Auto-Shuttle and we are pleased to be partnering with Sunderland City Council to prove the viability of a sustainable, automated public transport service.”