Driving innovation in the automotive sector
Innovate UK has been a driving force behind HORIBA MIRA’s scale up and expansion, growing their capabilities and providing new jobs.
HORIBA MIRA has a 70-year history as a world leading automotive engineering, research and development consultancy. Now, HORIBA MIRA plays a pivotal role in the development of electric and hydrogen-powered cars, and connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV).
The journey so far
Since 2015, Innovate UK has invested more than £600 million on behalf of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. A significant portion of that has helped Nuneaton-based HORIBA MIRA develop its state-of-the-art CAV testing facilities, which include radar-accurate imitation streets, crossroads, junctions, robotic cyclists and pedestrians, and even a full multistorey carpark used to test automated valet parking.
Theses facilities allow car manufacturers, from Rolls Royce and Jaguar to Tesla and Toyota, to put their AI-powered vehicles through their paces in a safe and controlled environment before they hit the streets.
The next milestone
With Innovate UK’s support, these facilities, and the specialist skills on site in the form of its direct employees and tenants, including Polestar and Viritech, HORIBA MIRA’s Technology Park in Nuneaton has become a hub of automotive innovation.
The next step is to turn this innovation and commercialise it to its fullest. To do that, HORIBA MIRA needed to scale up its manufacturing capability.
Innovate UK’s support
Innovate UK has continued support HORIBA MIRA with its ambitious plans, using its knowledge network, as well as £20 million of funding over the last decade. As a result HORIBA MIRA is now dramatically scaling its manufacturing capability to take it to the next level, which will create more employment opportunities and skills development.
Innovate UK is a key partner to us. They enable us to make some great innovations and support the automotive industry to develop new technologies and capabilities to accelerate the rate of bringing connected and automated mobility to the roads in the UK.
– Aaron Mandalia, Solution Leads for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, HORIBA MIRA
To find out more about Innovate UK’s work with Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, including upcoming funding opportunities, visit: Automated Vehicles.
Related News
08/07/2024
Next Gen building data assets making headlines
Real-world, investment-grade data enabling building energy upgrades at speed and scale.
Read more
19/01/2024
Charting the evolution of lower emission HGVs: from 2010 roadmap to 2038 vision
In 2010 a low carbon HGV technology roadmap predicted by 2050 the use of a hydrogen and low carbon fuel mixture. From 2025 the UK’s large-scale demonstrator aims to deploy almost 400 electric vehicles and hydrogen powered, zero emission trucks on the road. But what will things look like at the halfway mark, in 2038?