The UK Government’s CAM Pathfinder programme has awarded funding to nine projects developing autonomous vehicles for construction, public transport, airports and highways. Among them, plant hire firm Flannery and Gravis Robotics will develop a fully autonomous earthmoving system across six excavators, covering trenching, bulk excavation and truck loading. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) estimates Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) could deliver a £66 billion (US$87.8bn) annual boost to the UK economy by 2040, with construction seen as a major beneficiary alongside passenger vehicles. Connector, a self-driving bus in Cambridge that has completed more than 2,000 journeys across 700 miles of public road since June 2025, has also received funding to expand its trial and progress from level 3 to level 4 autonomy. A further seven demonstrator projects have secured funding, including autonomous airside vehicles for airports, automated highway maintenance vehicles and city-ready passenger vehicles. CAM Pathfinder aims to grow the UK’s £3.7 billion (US$4.92bn) CAM industry, delivered by the UK Government with Zenzic and Innovate UK. In a statement, Blair McDougall, industry minister, said the funding would help Britain’s autonomous vehicle sector ‘drive growth and jobs in every part of the UK’. Mark Cracknell, programme director at Zenzic, added that the projects could create and safeguard hundreds of jobs and strengthen the domestic supply chain. Source: Zenzic