Project Synergy

The POD shuttle service is operated by Public Transport Operator (PTO) Transfor for Great Manchester (TfGM) around Manchester Airport, taking visitors from the transport interchange to the terminals and also connecting the hotels and car parks at Airport City with the terminals. The POD shuttles operate on a circular route and are wheelchair accessible. The exact route for the pods around the airport is yet to be confirmed.

The GTMs (kit sports cars) will connect Stockport station to Manchester airport using the newly build A6 Manchester Airport Relief Road. The route followed by the autonomous GTMs goes from Stockport Railway Station to Manchester Airport via the A6 and then onto the A555 (Manchester Airport Eastern Link). The electric GTM car is a two seater and is not wheelchair accessible.

The PODs and GTMs will test platooning on their routes in two different environments: private roads at the airport and live highway with mixed traffic.

The timeline from February 2019 looks as follows: February 2019 – Simulation and Urban modelling
March 2019 – Virtual Concierge Platform Development April 2019 – GTM & POD Build
April 2019 – Platoon Methodology and Strategy
April 2019 – Platoon Infrastructure Complete
July 2019 – January 2020 – Trials
March 2020 – Policy Framework Delivered

The objective of this project is to understand how connected and autonomous vehicles can help address key transport challenges and opportunities within Greater Manchester. Project Synergy is TfGM’s autonomous vehicle pilot that aims to tackle key transport challenges within Greater Manchester including accessibility, mobility, traffic congestion and air pollution by using innovative technologies linked to new and emerging business models such as Freight-as-a-Service (“FaaS”) and Mobility-as-a-Service, ("MaaS"). This encompasses deploying platoons of three electric powered GTM sports cars to travel 10km, from Stockport train station to terminal 2 of Manchester Airport (and vice versa), via a newly developed section of the A6 dual carriageway, and three autonomous pods to ferry passengers from a car park to the passenger terminals of Manchester airport over a distance of 2km.

The budget of this project is £5m for a 30 month project. It is an Innovate UK financed project.

2013 National Infrastructure Plan: review legislative and regulatory framework to enable the trialling of driverless cars on UK roads.

2017 ‘The Pathway to Driverless Cars’ (DfT): “… the UK is uniquely positioned to become a premium location globally for the development of these technologies. Those wishing to conduct tests are not limited to the test track or certain geographical areas, and do not need to obtain certificates or permits. Provided they have insurance arranged, they are not required to provide a surety bond.”

2018 Autonomous and Electric Vehicles Bill received Royal Assent

Policy Delivery - Funding

2014 Four cities trials: delivering robust town/city-based consortia that are capable of proving how driverless vehicles will be integrated in a real-world environment.

2015 CAV 1: encourage development of CAV

2016 CAV 2: technical solutions for CAV features that will provide real-world benefits to users.

2017 CAV 3: business opportunities or real customer problems, with a clear commercial benefit.

2018 CAV 4: holistic simulation and modelling solutions.

Policy Delivery – Emerging Frameworks

Resources
• CCAV established in 2015 (BEIS-DfT) to work with industry, academia and regulators to “secure the UK’s position at the forefront of this change for the safe development, production and use of this technology”.
• Transport Systems Catapult: market forecasting, CAVLab research platform, ecosystem development. Regulatory change

Regulatory change
• Ongoing regulatory change: review, Code of Practice for Testing, Autonomous and Electric Vehicles Act (2018) and Law Commissions Consultation

Integrating the learning from other ongoing UK projects. The rest of the challenges will be determined at the end of the project.