UK funds nine automated-driving projects, from brake-by-wire to simulation at scale

Nine projects took awards under the UK’s CAM Pathfinder program for connected and automated mobility, announced on August 10 by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and by Zenzic, which delivers the program with Innovate UK. Two were awarded under the Enable competition and seven under Demonstrate.

The award closest to vehicle software went to D-BrAVe, led by Alcon Advanced Technologies with the University of Surrey and EVIE Autonomous. Zenzic said the project aims to deliver a commercially scalable, fail-operational brake-by-wire system with anti-lock braking and provisional electronic stability control for no-user-in-charge Level 4 vehicles.

Five AI, which the government listed as Five AI (Bosch Mobility), took an award for advancing tools and methods for photorealistic simulation at scale to support commercial deployment of Level 4 vehicles. Nissan and WMG were funded for ADventure, a city-ready autonomous mobility service model, and a Cambridgeshire consortium including Alexander Dennis, Fusion Processing and Whippet Coaches for work moving an existing bus service from Level 3 to Level 4.

The department said it was putting £17 million into the nine projects, which it described as a further nine, as part of a wider £130 million package for next-generation vehicles. It characterized them as spanning sensors, brake-by-wire systems and AI simulation through to deployment in public transport, construction, airport operations and highways maintenance. Zenzic described CAM Pathfinder as a £150 million multi-year commitment whose current portfolio consists of 49 projects involving 140 partners, representing over £29 million of government funding.

Source: UK Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, August 10, 2026. Project detail from Zenzic.