CAM Pathfinder: Demonstrate

To lead a collaborative project or work alone, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

To be an eligible collaboration, you must ensure that no one partner accounts for more than 70% of the eligible costs. The collaborating organisations must be separate legal and non-linked entities. Collaborations that do not meet the ‘effective collaboration’ criteria will remain eligible but will be treated as single applicants during the portfolio review.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £500,000 and £2 million
• last between 9 and 18 months
• start by 1 June 2026
• end by 30 November 2027
• lead to a demonstrator product or CAM enabling service, resulting in new commercial opportunities or securing follow on investment
• be achieving a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of five or six or a Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of four or five by completion

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

The aim of this competition is to support the development of products and Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) enabling services that prove enhanced capability and unlock clear commercial opportunities in CAM within the UK.

Successful projects will be expected to:

• reach a technology readiness level where they can be demonstrated and validated in representative environments
• actively engage with potential customers or operators
• move toward clear commercial opportunities based on a well defined market understanding

Your proposal must identify a clear market opportunity and an innovative project which exploits it in the UK or internationally.

Your project must:

• advance and mature the strategic CAM products and services to at least the stage where they can be demonstrated and validated in representative environments
• use those products and services to engage multiple customers and upstream supply chains to increase the commercial readiness of UK businesses to be a significant part of the global CAM supply chain, realising export potential
• be led by a business which is a technology developer or an enabling organisation, such as an engineering consultancy or technology service provider, who are directly involved in developing the CAM solution
• focus on technologies and systems that ultimately enable the operation of No-User-in-Charge (NUiC) platforms
• develop and show the customer pipeline and commercial potential; this may include other applications in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS) and adjacent sectors
• reach at least TRL of 5 or 6 or MRL of 4 or 5 by the end of the funded project
• be prepared to showcase its outcomes at a Cenex Expo event

Terminology in your application must comply with the meanings used in BSI Flex 1890 v6.0: 2025-03 Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM), Vocabulary.

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

On-vehicle innovations which support early commercial self-driving vehicle opportunities

Vehicle sensors and associated compute systems:

• camera
• RADAR
• LIDAR
• Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
• Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems

Vehicle control:

• drive-by-wire systems
• electronics and hardware integration

Automated Driving Systems:

• Automated Driving Systems (ADS) software
• on-board compute systems

Off-vehicle innovations where these are required to enable early commercial self-driving vehicle opportunities

Connectivity and Data:

• connectivity and cybersecurity
• data storage, management and sharing
• mapping services

Development tools including the development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML):

• model based systems engineering and software development tools
• virtual tools, models and digital twins

Technical services:

• verification and validation of virtual tools and processes
• testing services; physical and virtual
• safety case development and audit

Your project can include:

• development and integration of hardware and software components into a functional vehicle platform, system or sub-system

validation, verification and testing in relevant, representative or controlled environments to demonstrate technical performance, safety, and reliability

• manufacturing development and pilot production in relevant environments
• activities to support safety assurance, cyber security and regulatory preparedness
• filling specific technology gaps, improved safety or security, reduced costs, improved performance, improved reliability, enabling the scaling-up of product supply or service provision to meet a customer need

Innovate UK Business Connect will hold a briefing webinar on Friday 24 October, 10:00 – 12:00. Click here to register for a webinar place. A recording will be available afterwards.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Transport team.