Enhancing Passenger Experience – AI in Transport Competition
Applications close 20 December
InDePTH Year One Workshop Outputs
File type: pdf
File size: 19.8Mb
Unlock the potential of AI in transforming the UK transport sector
The Department for Transport (DfT), in collaboration with Connected Places Catapult, recognises the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in shaping the future of the UK’s transport system.
The Government has recently announced a consultation to allow the creation of an Integrated National Transport Strategy which will set out a ‘people first approach’ to getting people around the country.
The Enhancing Passenger Experience – AI in Transport Competition will allow Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to submit a use case proposal for an AI-driven transport solution that complements government objectives.
Successful applicants will work closely with government and industry stakeholders to develop a business case and pitch deck as well as opportunities to further develop their solution.
Competition Overview
Scope
With a focus on passenger experience, this competition seeks solutions that complement the government’s key priorities for transport.
In alignment with the government’s key priorities for transport, this competition focuses on how AI can enhance passenger experience across the UK’s transport networks.
We are seeking innovative solutions in the form of use case proposals that address the most pressing challenges faced by passengers/transport users, aiming to create more reliable, efficient, and accessible transport systems.
Use case submissions for this competition must target a critical area where AI can make a meaningful impact in transport on passenger experience.
When submitting your application, you will be asked to select up to two of the government priorities below that your AI-driven solution best complements:
- Improving Performance on the Railways and Driving Forward Rail Reform
- Improving Bus Services and Growing Usage Across the Country
- Transforming Infrastructure to Promote Social Mobility and Tackle Regional Inequality
- Delivering Greener Transport
- Better Integrating Transport Networks
Further context and background information that will assist you with completing your application can be found in our Application Guidance Document.
Connected Places Catapult and the Department for Transport strongly recommend you read through this guidance document before submitting to ensure you best understand the scope of the competition and how to align your solution with the priorities outlined above.
Programme Phases
This is three-phrase programme with business support, pitching guidance and networking opportunities on offer as well as funding.
If you are accepted onto Phase One, you will receive up to £2,000 to develop your use case into an early-stage business case and pitch deck.
If you are accepted onto Phase Two, you will receive professional pitch training and will then pitch your solution to a panel of government representatives from the DfT.
If you are accepted onto Phase Three, you will receive up to £13,000 to further refine and develop the maturity of your business case, you will also pitch your solution to a panel of senior transport leaders at Connected Places Catapult’s Summit event on 19 March 2025.
Key Dates
What’s on offer to smes?
01
Innovation Funding
Funding to support the development of your business case, pitch deck and pitching opportunity
02
DfT Collaboration
Engage with policymakers to align your innovation with government priorities
03
Pitching Support
Access to professional guidance and coaching on how to best develop and pitch your use case
Eligibility criteria
- Applicant Type: Must be a UK-based SME.
- Technological Readiness Level (TRL): Your solution must be between TRL 2-6.
- Commitment: Participants must be available for the competition timeline.
How to apply
Applications must be submitted online by 17:00 on 20 December.
Late submissions will not be accepted.
Apply through the link below.
Supporting documents
Point of contact
If you have any questions about the competition or application process, please contact the Innovation Funding team at innovation_funding@cp.catapult.org.uk
events
impact series webinar: The future of flight
Join this webinar to explore how our initiatives shape a more connected, efficient, and sustainable future in flight.
Event finished: 12th December 2024
As a key partner in the Future Flight Challenge Phase 3, Connected Places Catapult is advancing UK aviation through pioneering business modelling, regulatory guidance, and impactful real-world projects. Join this webinar to explore how our initiatives shape a more connected, efficient, and sustainable future in flight. We will cover project insights, challenges and solutions, tangible outcomes, and commercialisation paths.
Hear from experts and leaders from AMEC, CAELUS, InDePTH, SATE, and Skyway, sharing firsthand insights on these transformative projects:
- Air Mobility Ecosystem Consortium (AMEC) demonstrating sustainable aerial mobility to support net-zero goals and regional connectivity.
- Care & Equity – Healthcare Logistics UAS Scotland (CAELUS) delivering essential medical supplies across Scotland, improving healthcare access.
- The Intelligent Drones for Port and Highways TechnologyI (InDePTH) using UAS, AI, and digital twins to streamline and green national infrastructure.
- Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) advancing airport infrastructure to boost connectivity and economic growth, with successful demonstrations of hybrid-electric aircraft and autonomous logistics.
- Skyway, a drone superhighway pioneering Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations, unlocking new commercial opportunities for the UK.
events
Innovation Zero 2024
The UK's largest net-zero congress
Event finished: 1st May 2024
We are delighted to once again participate in Innovation Zero, and we’re contributing to a number of sessions, including:
Andrew Chadwick, Ecosystem Director, Air Mobility & Airports, joining the Fuelling Flight: Hydrogen session on 1 May at 11:45.
Alison Young, Head of Global Investment, joining the session on Funding the Automotive Transformation, on 1 May at 12:25 in the Transport & Mobility Forum.
articles
Award win for project deploying drones and advanced AI
Consortium scoops prestigious award for research and development at robotics ceremony
articles
Award win for project deploying drones and advanced AI
Consortium scoops prestigious award for research and development at robotics ceremony
articles
Award win for project deploying drones and advanced AI
Consortium scoops prestigious award for research and development at robotics ceremony
articles
Award win for project deploying drones and advanced AI
Consortium scoops prestigious award for research and development at robotics ceremony
‘Intelligent Drones for Port and Highways Technology’ (InDePTH) – a project developing and trialling an innovative approach to the monitoring and control of critical national infrastructure – was recognised at the 2023 Robotics and Automation Awards in London.
Nominated for two awards, InDePTH won the award for Best Research & Development Innovation at the ceremony, held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms.
Connected Places Catapult, alongside Associated British Ports (ABP), Kier Transportation, RoboK and HeroTech8 is part of the InDePTH consortium being led by BT. The consortium is focused on using automated drone technology and advanced AI techniques to create an efficient, low-carbon and cost-effective solution for infrastructure management.
The project aims to trial ‘beyond visual line of sight’ BVLOS flights using automated ‘drone-in-a-box’ technology to regularly survey large infrastructure estates.
The imagery collected from the drone missions will be used to create digital models, and state-of-the-art machine learning will automatically extract insight from the collected imagery; insight that can be used by end users in near real-time.
Project trials are centred around three real-world use cases for ports and highways developed by ABP and Kier, including landside port operations and management, marine operations and highway safety and defect inspections.
“I’m delighted that the Project InDePTH team has been recognised for their excellent work at the Robotics and Automation Awards. InDePTH is an innovative and technically complex project which will revolutionise the autonomous drones service industry, by bringing agile artificial intelligence to a wide variety of customers and industry sectors.u0026quot;Andrew Chadwick, Acting Ecosystem Director for Air Mobility u0026amp; Airports, Connected Places Catapult
“We’re delighted to have won this award which recognises the potential of InDePTH to transform the way operations are conducted in critical national infrastructure and beyond with the use of autonomous drones. One of the judging criteria for the category was collaboration and the way the partners have come together to jointly tackle the demanding use cases that InDePTH is focussing on really shone through to the judges in our presentation.”Alistair Duke, Research Manager – Networks, BT Group on behalf of the InDePTH consortium
InDePTH forms part of the Future Flight Challenge Phase 3 programme, delivered by Innovate UK and funded by UK Research and Innovation which aims to help develop the country’s future drone economy.
Flights are taking place at the Port of Ipswich, owned and operated by ABP, to show how drones could help improve asset and inventory management, as well as oversee offshore surveillance and maritime operations.
InDePTH is also deploying drones to continuously assess the surface quality of roads within the port on behalf of Kier, in an effort to spot defects early, which – if used on highways – could improve safety and wellbeing for roadworkers.
Trials of the technology will continue over the remainder of the project, evaluating the technology against the use cases identified by ABP and Kier, and working towards developing a market-ready solution in terms of both the technology and business models.
You can find out more about the consortium partners and their role in the project on our project page and in our project video.
projects
Future Flight InDepth
How can drones be used beyond visual line of sight to unlock new ways to monitor and control critical national infrastructure such as highways and ports? The InDePTH project aims to find out.
The Intelligent Drones for Port and Highways Technology project, InDePTH, forms part of the Future Flight Challenge Phase III programme delivered by Innovate UK on behalf of UKRI. The consortium consists of six partners: BT, Robok, HeroTech8, ABP, Kier and Connected Places Catapult. The group has brought together a range of new technologies and innovative solutions, experience in Collaborative Research and Development (CR&D) projects and domain knowledge to deliver against this national challenge.
Together, the project team will build and test the use of drones to carry out automatic ‘beyond visual line of sight’ (BVLOS) missions to monitor and control critical national infrastructure such as highways and ports. Specifically, the project will demonstrate value and commercial benefit in 3 use cases for ports and highways, including but not limited to asset management and infrastructure inspection.
In the next 12 months, the team will gather requirements and key performance indicators (KPIs) for the use cases and begin the design and prototyping of the technical solutions:
- Use Cases Definition and Requirements (September 2022)
- Testing and Demonstrations (March 2023-September 2023)
- Dissemination events (July 2023 and Summer 2024)
- Business case (March 2024)
Who is involved?
The partners are:
- BT (Lead)
- Robok
- HeroTech8
- ABP
- Kier
- Connected Places Catapult
An introduction to the Intelligent Drones for Port and Highways Technology (InDePTH) project by the consortium.
Project Updates
On Tuesday 18 July, the InDePTH Year 1 event was held at Connected Places Catapult’s London office to showcase progress and learnings made by the consortium to date. The event included two workshop sessions to engage with supportive stakeholders which consisted of a range of government representatives, regulators and industry players.
The three key objectives of this workshop were to 1) better understand the various stakeholders’ desired outcomes for InDePTH’s vision, 2) explore opportunities available that can support with the commercialisation of the InDePTH solution, and 3) identify any potential barriers that could impact our ability to leverage the identified opportunities.
The outputs of these learnings and our recommendations will be presented in future project work.
Robotics and Automation Awards 2023
Project InDePTH is a finalist in the Robotics and Automation Awards 2023 for the Applied Technologies award in the category of ‘Best use of Drones’ as well as the R&D Innovation award in the category of ‘Research & Innovation’. The awards recognise projects that showcase the innovative application of robotics or automation. InDePTH combines both aspects to demonstrate the value of autonomous drones in various use cases across Ports and Highways.
The InDePTH project won the R&D Innovation award! Find out more here
Workshop outputs
The InDePTH consortium is trialling how drones and advanced AI can be used to control and monitor critical national infrastructure.
A range of government, regulator and industry stakeholders were invited to Connected Places Catapult’s London office to introduce them to the InDePTH project and for them to input into the project. At the event, held on Tuesday 18th July, the team presented learnings made by the consortium to date, and ran two workshop sessions to gather insight from the experienced stakeholder group.
The three key objectives of the workshop sessions were to 1) better understand the various stakeholders’ desired outcomes for InDePTH’s vision, 2) explore opportunities available that can support with the commercialisation of the InDePTH solution, and 3) identify any potential barriers that could impact our ability to leverage the identified opportunities.
You can find out more about the key discussion points in the download.
Indepth Market Analysis Report May 2024
File type: pdf
File size: 145.32Mb
events
Future of Air Mobility Accelerator Application Support Webinar
Connected Places Catapult will be hosting an application support webinar for our Future of Air Mobility accelerator to share information and answer any questions applicants may have.
Event finished: 23rd August 2022
The Future of Air Mobility accelerator (FoAM) is a challenge-led, 6-month accelerator programme powered by Connected Places Catapult and in partnership with the Future Flight Challenge from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Catapult will select up to 12 SMEs to join the programme where they will receive support from a consortium of industry, government, academic and regulatory partners on the trial and testing of disruptive innovations. Through a focus on new and emerging challenges within the aviation ecosystem, FoAM will work alongside a consortium of partners to ensure that the programme tackles significant sector challenges and de-risks innovation in the marketplace.
The SMEs selected will have the opportunity to trial their solutions and will be guided through a bespoke programme tailored to their requirements. The programme will include investment readiness, technology and product development support, alongside introductions to aviation stakeholders and potential customers. These activities will be co-designed with the cohort of SMEs to support them in growing their businesses and adapting their propositions to the partners’ requirements.
This application support webinar will cover the overall programme vision, the journey of the programme to date, the programme challenges and guidance on the application process.
To find more about the programme and to apply, simply click here.
News
Yorkshire Housing to trial building inspection with drone technology
Connected Places Catapult has brought together Yorkshire Housing and Vantage UAV as part of the Government Drone Pathfinder Catalyst Programme. The programme is sponsored by the Department for Transport (DfT), and supported by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and ARPAS-UK, the drone industry association. Together we aim to accelerate the safe adoption of drones across UK business sectors by engaging with industries and showcase the benefits of integrating drone services into existing workflow.
Drones are not new to property management but, despite their benefits, drones are not yet widely used across industries. This collaboration with Yorkshire Housing aims to catalyse step-change improvements and provide the evidence to encourage more use of drones to drive safety, productivity, and efficiency for other housing providers. For example, a drone building inspection can offer faster diagnosis and improved service for maintenance repairs at customer properties.
Often the management, repair and maintenance of properties are major costs to housing providers. Traditionally physical inspections at height use scaffolding or mobile work platforms to inspect the condition of properties. These can be labour intensive and expensive to set up. Depending on the location, they can also result in disruption, intrusion, and security issues with unauthorised access.
This is where drones come into their own, improving safety and productivity by providing visual access to difficult to reach and hazardous spaces, reducing the use of elevated work platforms. Drones can capture high-quality aerial imaging and 3D models. This leads to quicker and more effective diagnosis whilst saving the cost of inspection expenditure and reducing disruption for customers. Ultimately, drones can support more targeted maintenance and move towards a more preventative maintenance regime in the long term.
Aviation Minister, Robert Courts said:
“We’re pioneering a golden age of aviation innovation in which drones will play a huge role in not only transforming the future of transport but providing solutions to global issues.
Yorkshire Housing’s trial is the latest in a string of exciting new trials which harness the benefits of drones to provide quicker, cheaper and more effective services for the public.”
Commenting on the programme, Andy Gamble, Executive Director Growth & Assets at Yorkshire Housing, said:
“It’s really exciting to play a part in the national Drone Pathfinder Catalyst Programme. Yorkshire Housing look after some 18,000 properties across Yorkshire, so drones offer us a real opportunity to improve our service.
Not only does it make real savings by reducing the need for expensive scaffolding and using heavy machinery to carry safety checks, but it also means our customers can have problems at their homes diagnosed and fixed far sooner.”
Hannah Tew, Director of Air Mobility, Connected Places Catapult said:
“We are delighted to be leading the Drone Pathfinder Catalyst programme on behalf of the Department for Transport and our first demonstration with Yorkshire Housing and Vantage UAV has really shown how drones can be adopted in different sectors to improve existing services.”
Many drone solution service providers are already available on the market, which is expected to grow significantly over the next few years. They can provide end-to-end services even for organisations with little or no experience of using drones.
The results from the demonstration with Yorkshire Housing will be published towards to end of this month and showcased in a webinar on the 29th June.
Find out more by registering for Driving productivity using drones in the Housing Sector webinar co-hosted by Connected Places Catapult and Disruptive Innovators Network.
