Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) for industrial applications offer safe, readily available and zero emission transportation of goods within closed environments (e.g. airports) and wider logistics applications (e.g. freight hubs) where vehicles can operate 24/7 to handle goods and move people. In airside operations, staff shortages are currently critical, causing delays in turning aircraft around and financial losses. Furthermore, frequent airside manual handling accidents injure human operators and damage aircraft and cargo. The project will be led by RDM's autonomous vehicle arm, Aurrigo. Aurrigo have developed and tested autonomous vehicles including a passenger carrying AUTO-Shuttle for on and off-highway operations and AUTO-Dolly for airport baggage handling. In this project, RDM Aurrigo will develop the technology to build air cargo handling dollies, capable of carrying loads of up to 7.5t and test these in collaboration with UPS, a global freight handling company, who represent a first customer. An Auto-Cargo prototype will be developed and tested in a live environment, within the UPS hub at East Midlands Airport. To scale-up deployments of autonomous vehicles, RDM will redevelop the Auto-Sim tool for air cargo operations. The project will develop, verify, and validate CAV technology and provide increased understanding of the infrastructure needed for optimum operation. Critically, it will deliver a means for any organisation wishing to implement CAV operations to produce a business case for doing so. We will develop technology that can combine a digital map of any cargo handling area with data about cargo throughput and external factors (e.g. flight schedules). From this data, the optimum number and type of CAVs can be modelled and the tool can illustrate what supporting infrastructure is needed. It will be able to model efficiency (reduced delays and faster aircraft turnarounds) and capacity gains (more flights per hour) from introducing autonomous vehicles and processes. It will also model cost reductions from reduced handling costs and potential revenue increases from greater capacity. Aurrigo will develop and test an Auto-Cargo dolly to validate the digital model which will be operated during a testing phase at East Midlands Airport to validate the technology and develop a supply chain.

Awaiting public summary

The Wireless Electric Fleets project will look to investigate the feasibility of wireless charging at logistics depots, utility sites and taxi-ranks. Both commercial and technical analysis will input into the development of business case. Based on this business case the feasibility of real-world demonstrators of the technology will be determined.

Arrival find trucks today totally unacceptable. At Arrival we are making trucks the way they should be – affordable, elegant, quiet, clean and safe. We are removing all the barriers to entry for electric vehicles by pricing them in line with conventional trucks, giving every fleet manager, tradesman or company, no matter how big or small, the opportunity to change the way they transport goods and make our towns and cities better places to live in. Arrival is well funded by private venture capital but its plans are extremely ambitious and require considerable investment. The public funding provided by the Robopilot project will greatly accelerate the 'safety' component of our vision in line with key objectives of both central Government and City authorities such as Transport for London. It will develop & demonstrate autonomous driving functionality for our recently announced electric delivery van, which can then be adapted for our planned future rollout of larger trucks and buses. It brings advanced autonomous racing technology to the light commercial vehicles market. Demonstration autonomous manoeuvre of the vehicle in a depot environment, without safety driver.

The global logistics company UPS is committed to greening its delivery fleet, but the lack of electric freight vehicles and electric infrastructure restrictions have held it back. Smart Electric Urban Logistics provides an innovative set of solutions which will support this change and make a vital contribution to cutting emissions in the key central London area. It will also provide a scalable set of outputs which other logistics and freight operators can implement to improve their vehicle fleets and ultimately the environment. A trial of electric vehicles forms the centre piece, with real duty cycles providing evidence for emissions reduction versus existing diesel fuel use. Instead of disruptive infrastructure improvement work, the project will focus on smart charging and making best use of existing supply through efficient use. An innovative time variance tool will provide a key mechanism for delivering efficiency, and this will help to create additional capacity in electrical supply with short lead-in times. A five year strategy for the electrification of UPS's entire central London fleet of 170 vehicles will result, moving the company towards its green objectives and providing an exemplar and real-world data for other UK organisations interested in the electrification of vehicles.

Cities such as London are introducing low or zero emission zones to reduce the socio-environmental impacts of vehicles. Global logistics leader UPS have trialed pure electric vehicles and learned that they are limited on range. If a pure electric delivery vehicle runs low on charge, pulling in to a service station to refuel is not an option . Breakdowns can result in late deliveries and the spoiling of perishable items. In many cases vehicles need a range of at least 60 miles from distribution centres on the edge of town to be able to reach their delivery area in the city and then get back to base. Tevva Trucks’ Range Extended Electric powertrain technology and smart control software achieves this and more. By operating on electric only mode in the city and using a traditional, small car engine running at optimum efficiency to rechanrge its batteries, TevvaDrive constantly optimises performance to deliver both zero emissions in town and a long range. Tevva & UPS have run single vehicle trials successfully for 1 year & need to scale up to fleet wide trials. Tevva & UPS will build & operate 15 of UPS' highly visible, iconic brown P80 delivery trucks across two UK sites, driving daily routes of up to 150 miles to demonstrate the technology’s readiness for mass fleet wide roll out.

The project partners will develop then test a scaleable, multi-modal freight delivery system enabling a transformation in parcel delivery for congested urban areas. Based on a powered trike trailer and unique control software, we will develop a system that optimises the use of our product with existing vans to deliver a holistic approach to last mile deliveries combining the best of van and emerging cycle logistics solutions. Potential savings to an operator include increased parcel drop rates, reduced labour costs, reduced millage travelled and the use of electric vehicles improving the health of the city and reducing carbon and energy consumption.