The Alexander Dennis Enviro100AEV won “Vehicle of the Year” at the Self-Driving Industry Awards in Margate on Friday.
The bus, which uses technology from Fusion Processing, was one of the big winners at the third edition of the event, which is organised by Cars of the Future.
Over the coming weeks, two examples of the Enviro100AEV will be used for driverless trials being operated by Whippet in Cambridge as part of the government-funded Connector project.
While both the Cambridge Connector project involves an on-board safety driver, Fusion is also developing “no-user-in-charge” trials using an Enviro 100AEV on tracks and in Metroline London depots.
Fusion also won the “Design” award, one of 17 presented on the night at the Turner Contemporary art gallery.
Jamie Wilson, Head of Concepts and Advanced Engineering at Alexander Dennis, who accepted the award, says: “This award for our Enviro100AEV is a fantastic recognition of the ground-breaking work we are doing to explore the technical and commercial opportunities for connected and automated vehicle technology in buses.
“This has been made possible by the technology partnership with our friends at Fusion Processing, whose automated drive system is at the heart of the exciting advances we look forward to continuing to demonstrate to the self-driving vehicle industry over the coming months and years.”
Jim Hutchinson, CEO of Fusion Processing, adds: “We’re delighted to be recognised for our work with Alexander Dennis on the SAE Level 4 Enviro100AEV.
“Automated buses represent a genuine game-changer – not least through the up to 20% energy savings they deliver and the significantly enhanced safety they provide.
“The commercial applications for automated buses are incredibly exciting, and we’re eager to see how this technology transforms the market in the coming years.”
Ohmio, which provided the technology for autonomous shuttle trials in Milton Keynes and the Birmingham NEC, won the “Consumer Service” award. Its Ohmio Lift won Vehicle of the Year at last year’s Self-Driving Awards.
Turkish bus manufacturer Karsan, which has deployed its e-ATAK autonomous buses elsewhere in Europe, won the “Testing” award.
Carsofthefuture.co.uk editor Neil Kennett says: “As usual, our applicants nominated some fantastic people and products for the headline Awards.
“I’m delighted we could bring them together to give a perfect snapshot of self-driving in 2025 – a range of vehicles either already in service or soon to be, many of them designed and built right here in the UK.”
