Westfield Sportscars
Westfield Sportscars (OEM) was incorporated in February 1982, it is the UKs second largest British Niche Vehicle Manufacturer, and manufactures approximately 400 vehicles per annum. Westfield were the first Niche Vehicle Manufacturer to obtain European Small Series Type Approval for both its premises and products in the range (Similar to ISO Accreditation) allowing it to sell approved vehicles on a global basis. In parallel to manufacturing Westfield designs, tests and validates other vehicles for existing and new manufacturers, component suppliers and runs drive experience trials around the globe. Westfield employ sixteen full time members of staff and head quarters are located in Kingswinford, Dudley. Westfield turnover £1.5m through global vehicle sales per annum.
Westfield are building and integrating the new systems and components on the POD and approving them for use off highway and then on road. Westfield has a clear, approved methodology (by the Vehicle Certification Agency) for the vehicles on and off Road. Relevant Collaborative Projects include TSB Low Carbon Demonstrator Project (Six pure electric Westfield Vehicles were deployed around the country to demonstrate the capability and provide feedback on the user profile). Westfield are interested in this project as they are already collaborating with Heathrow on their existing POD designs and approvals and see this project as a low risk route to take an existing platform and manufacturing it for road use – We are Heathrow’s manufacturing partner for the POD.
Heathrow Enterprises
Heathrow operates Heathrow airport, the UK’s largest and busiest airport that serves in excess of 70 million passengers annually, employing over 16,000 people. Company revenues are in excess of £2.6 billion per year, and the company has invested over £10 billion in the airport over the past 10 years, in particular to build two new terminals, T5 and more recently T2.
Heathrow Pod provides transport between a car park and the terminal, replacing a shuttle bus service with autonomous, zero on site emission transport. Full public operation of Heathrow pod started in 2011, and over the last 4 years over 1.5 million passengers have used the system and the 21 vehicles have completed over 3 million km of driverless operation. Heathrow invested in the product leading to taking over operation of the Heathrow pod in 2015
Heathrow pod has a proven track record in designing, developing, implementing and operating autonomous vehicles. This expertise can be exploited in this project by building on a proven vehicle design that is DDA compliant, and has demonstrated high levels of reliability in its use at Heathrow airport. Vehicle development for the pod system started in 2000, using a UK government Innovative Transport contract for the design and development of a prototype vehicle. By 2003 this had been approved for public use at the test track located in Cardiff.
Heathrow can utilize its in house expertise in vehicle control software, mechanical and electrical design, and autonomous vehicle testing and safety case development to deliver the required adaptations to the vehicle, and support the project partners.
www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/heathrow-parking/heathrow-pod-parking-terminal-5
Fusion Processing
Fusion Processing Ltd is a privately held company, based in Bristol, designs intelligent systems that combine advanced processing techniques with the inputs of radar sensors, image sensors and other devices. Our team includes experts in radar processing, image processing, vehicle systems and vehicle operations. Fusion Processing has developed proprietary techniques and Intellectual Property to provide driver aids with superior situational awareness. The CycleEye®
system has been developed in response to the high growth in cycling and the need for improved safety in cities where cyclists share limited road space with large vehicles. It is a world leading product able to differentiate between types of object and their behaviour and alert the driver only as necessary, working in all conditions, including very
low visibility conditions such as heavy fog in the night-time. CycleEye is in use on buses in Bristol and is gaining traction elsewhere as the benefits are realised. Fusion Processing also has other vehicle collision avoidance, driver assistance systems and situational awareness products in development, and is well connected within the automotive supply chain. Fusion is a member of the VENTURER consortium, providing the sensing and situational awareness capability to the autonomous vehicle. Fusion is also active in the transport monitoring sector where our technology is able to better distinguish between vehicle types and operate more reliably across differing ambient conditions. www.fusionproc.com
Conigital
Conigital Group is a pioneering City Infrastructure technology firm that tackle never-done-before proof of concepts to solve complex problems that require an innovative and multidisciplinary approach. We are smart tech and systems/platform integrators. Our primary goal is to create inclusive smart cities that address the needs of the visually impaired and the ageing population through the use of innovative IoT sensors and application software.
Key components of the Conigital System include wireless infrastructure hardware to advanced real- time location engines, system management tools, and application software supporting Wi-Fi enabled tags, bluetooth beacons, GPS, Near Field Communications (“NFC”) and Radio Frequency Identifier (“RFID”) tags and satellite based GPS technology. Further we are developing innovative new tactile interfaces for the visually impaired and augmented reality engines that enhance and accentuate shapes, bodies and objects on smart devices.
Projects Include: Development of outdoor way-finding smartphone apps for the blind and low vision citizens. Inclusive Smart City Projects/Demonstrator through hardware & software development of mesh wireless sensor networks (WSN) to assist seamless outdoor/indoor wayfinding navigation systems for the visually impaired. Deployment and installation of an entire wireless network for London Underground. Collaboration with Coventry University Enterprises to support the West Midlands Mobile and Wireless programme, an EU initiative to create a city centre wireless mesh network using 30 Wi-Fi hotspots.
http://conigital.com
Birmingham City University
Birmingham City University received its charter in 1992 but can trace its roots back to 1843 when the Birmingham Government School of Design was opened. Since then, the University has established an enviable track record of working with and supporting local industry. A particular focus of the University is interdisciplinary research and practice, made possible by a broad academic portfolio, which stretches from the performing arts to engineering and health care.
Located in a new purpose-built campus in the centre of Birmingham, The Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment is home to over 350 academic staff and 4500 students. The Faculty actively supports the industry-led Institute for Design and Economic Acceleration (IDEA) Birmingham which has over 200 members from the Midlands manufacturing base and facilitates innovation and transformational technology generation to support national and local businesses.
The Centre for Advanced Engineering has a special interest in and reputation for working in the automotive industry and staff have expertise in control, power train, electronics and autonomous vehicle technology. The key application areas for this work include Smart Cities, Sustainable Futures and autonomous vehicles.
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/research