The Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) Pathfinder programme lays the foundations for an early commercial market. It positions the UK to secure first mover advantage in Europe for the deployment of CAM products and services.
The programme will support the UK CAM sector to accelerate its technological capabilities and demonstrate CAM operations as commercially viable. This programme will focus on high value market segments in the early commercialisation of these technologies, whilst also ensuring these are safe and secure for all.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest a minimum of £1.5 million for up to eight projects from this competition. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.
The aim of this competition is to fund feasibility studies for early commercial Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) opportunities. Successful projects are expected to enable organisations to create business cases for deployment opportunities in high value areas. Business cases must be sufficiently detailed to allow investment decisions or must highlight existing barriers which prevent this. Proposed deployments must operate commercially without safety drivers at a specified location in the UK.
Your project must focus on one or more of the following:
- off-highway vehicles and services without public access
- freight and logistics vehicles and services
- personal mobility vehicles and services
- public transport vehicles and services
- specialist service vehicles, for example, road sweepers, refuse trucks
Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have a 50% chance of success.
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To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be one of the following:
- a UK registered business of any size
- a local authority
- a transport authority
To work alone your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
If the lead organisation is a local authority or a transport authority, it must collaborate with at least one grant claiming business.
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.
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Your project must:
- have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £250,000
- last between six and nine months
- not start before 1 April 2026
- end by 31 March 2027
Any funded organisation must carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results in the UK.
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The aim of this competition is to fund feasibility studies for early commercial Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) opportunities. Successful projects are expected to enable organisations to create business cases for deployment opportunities in high value areas.
Business cases must be sufficiently detailed to allow investment decisions or must highlight existing barriers which prevent this. Proposed deployments must operate commercially without safety drivers at a specified location in the UK.
Your project must:
- result in a detailed business case enabling a decision either to invest in the project, and therefore the UK, or show clearly the additional steps and measures required to allow the decision
- focus on opportunities that could operate commercially without safety drivers at a specified location in the UK, quantifying the job opportunities in the operation of the CAM service and productivity benefits to the economy
- evidence the impact, and potential opportunities, for the UK CAM supply chain and where appropriate highlight opportunities to exploit linkages to technology developers
- deliver a detailed closeout report to present at a closeout meeting with Zenzic to review the business case, its outcomes and next steps, prior to closure and payment of the final claim
- be led by an organisation looking to deploy a vehicle service into an operational environment, or led by an operator who will be operating and running the CAM service
- engage with necessary regulatory bodies to ensure both industry and regulators remain well informed
- engage with technology developers to ensure market readiness of the technologies to be deployed in the business case
- include in your closeout report, gaps in UK technology providers for the proposed service
Limited technology trials or development are permitted only to support the investigation toward the feasibility of the service or provide data to the business case, when it is not available through other means.
Terminology in your application must comply with the meanings detailed in the BSI Flex 1890 v6.0:2025-03 Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) – Vocabulary.
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Your project must focus on one or more of the following:
- off-highway vehicles and services without public access
- freight and logistics vehicles and services
- personal mobility vehicles and services
- public transport vehicles and services
- specialist service vehicles, for example, road sweepers, refuse trucks
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Innovate UK Business Connect will hold a briefing webinar on Monday 13 October, 2-3:30pm: 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.
Innovate UK's application and funding process
If you need more information about how to apply, please read our funding support pages. For additional support, reach out to our team of innovation experts who are ready to help you navigate the application process and maximise your chances of success.
For more information

Accessibility and Inclusion
Innovate UK welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.