The VENTURER Alliance was formed on 1 July 2018 to continue the pioneering work and share the ground-breaking findings of the innovative VENTURER research and development project. Now – one year on – we thought it fitting to summarise our progress in the past year.
Since the VENTURER Alliance’s formation, the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) landscape has continued to evolve and develop. Therefore, the VENTURER Alliance has worked closely with key stakeholders from across industry and government to understand these developments and support the next steps towards CAV implementation in the UK. For example, the findings from VENTURER were used to inform the recent consultation on autonomous vehicles conducted by the England and Wales and Scottish Law Commissions. Moreover, the VENTURER Alliance is supporting the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) to promote CAV capabilities in the region – unlocking new opportunities for growth.
During its first year, the VENTURER Alliance was also pleased to welcome Highways England as a new member. Highways England bring valuable expertise and insight to the VENTURER Alliance, extending our capabilities and enabling us to offer a more holistic view of the CAV landscape.
The experience gained from VENTURER and the strong, collaborative relationships within the VENTURER Alliance have supported several members of the Alliance to secure additional CAV projects. One example is the ‘CAV Forth’ project, involving Fusion Processing and the University of the West of England, which will test autonomous buses across the Forth Bridge in Scotland.
We are also very excited to share that VENTURER was successful in winning the Smarter Travel ‘CAV Project of the Year’ award in 2018! This illustrates the impact of the project on the changing CAV landscape, which the VENTURER Alliance hopes to continue.
Only a few of the highlights from the first year of the VENTURER Alliance have been mentioned here. Over the next few months, the Alliance will be releasing a series of blogs to update you on progress since the formation of the VENTURER Alliance in more detail, and our plans for future.
Authored by Aston Brand, Atkins