Two new partners have come onboard Greater Cambridge Partnership’s (GCP) self-driving vehicle project, Connector.

The Connector project is a pilot scheme to bring autonomous buses to Cambridge, utilising state of the art technology to give people more options about how they travel to work, get to appointments or see friends.

Following changes to the project, Alexander Dennis Ltd, the UK’s largest bus manufacturer, and Fusion Processing Ltd, a leading provider of Automated Drive Systems, were invited to join the consortium and the first self-driving vehicle is now set to start running in late summer 2024.

The Connector consortium, led by the Greater Cambridge Partnership, also includes Gamma Energy, IPG Automotive, dRISK and Stagecoach. The project is funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and industry partners.

The trial will start with a self-driving bus serving a route from the Madingley Road Park & Ride site around the University of Cambridge’s West Cambridge Campus and into Eddington. This is due to start welcoming passengers in late summer.

The second part of the trial will see three self-driving buses, provided by Alexander Dennis Ltd, offering services from the Trumpington Park & Ride and Babraham Park & Ride sites to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus from early 2025. Both services will run in addition to the existing public transport options in the city.

Cllr Elisa Meschini, Chair of the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s Executive Board, said:

“For Cambridge to thrive now and in the future, the area needs the infrastructure and mass public transport systems to cope with the demand – autonomous vehicles are one part of this solution. It will be really exciting to see what was once considered to be fanciful science fiction to be out on our roads giving people choice in how they travel so I look forward to seeing how the pilots go.”