The Group was established by the Founder Directors in 1993 and is headquartered in Coventry UK. It has a long trading history as a manufacturer and supplier of advanced, innovative and niche product solutions to premium vehicle OEMs and global Tier 1’s in the automotive industry. It has strong relationships with Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Bentley, Maclaren, Morgan Motors, Rolls Royce and others.
Major milestones in the history of the automotive technology division are summarised as follows:
Awards:
Numerous awards over 29 years with the most current ones being Heathrow technology of the year 2019 and AutoCar award for best technology 2020
Notable Projects:
London Olympic Games 2012 – provided all of the telematics units and supporting digital platform to LOCOG for fitment to 1200 buses and coaches used to transport the athletes during the games and during the Paralympics.
Accreditations:
IATF 16949
ISO 14001
ISO 9001
ISO 26262
In 2016 Aurrigo successfully won a highly contested UK Government backed project (LUTZ Pathfinder) to develop the first platform for autonomous vehicles, whereby it used its automotive skills to design and build three prototype drive by wire vehicles. At that time Aurrigo did not have its own autonomous driving software (ADS) platform so the Government invited in another partner to provide that solution. The project was demonstrated successfully in Milton Keynes and generated significant PR. At the end of the project Aurrigo tried to contract with the other party to provide it with an on-going ADS solution but unfortunately commercial terms could not be agreed so instead the company set about developing their own Autonomous Technology division.
Work commenced in late 2016 on developing a proprietary autonomous driving system, based on the Group’s knowledge and experience of safety critical software. Alongside, the Group began designing, developing and manufacturing autonomous passenger vehicles. Further details on these vehicles are set out below under the paragraph titled [Business Overview].
In 2019, the Group established the Aviation Technology division and commenced work on the design and development of autonomous baggage and cargo handling vehicles, which are designed to replace existing airport fleets of diesel and electric powered tugs and manually pulled baggage & cargo dollies. Further details on these vehicles are set out below under the paragraph titled [Business Overview].
[Dependent on HMRC dialogue and advice from Philip Hare, consider how to describe (i) the work with Heathrow T5 and IAG and (ii) the background to and timing of involvement with Changi, CAAS etc., and the progress, including testing of Auto Dolly prototype at Changi from Feb ’22. Add cross reference to section on the Changi “model” later in Part 1]
In 2017, the Group established a presence in Australia, through its wholly owned subsidiary Aurrigo PTY Ltd and in the same year the Business won a technology development grant of AU$1m to develop and demonstrate the use of autonomous vehicles. The grant was awarded by the South Australian Government as part of their Mobility Lab Fund.
The grant funded project enabled Aurrigo to ship three four-seater Auto-Pods to Adelaide for evaluation, tests and trialling. The vehicles were housed at the Tonsley Innovation District and operated around there as well as other locations in and around Adelaide. The project came to an end in 2020 but the company managed to secure some other projects such as the deployment at Elliot Gardens which proved out the use of our Auto-Pod’s for transport in an aged care community.
In late 2022 the company agreed a non-binding working relationship with Sage Automation based in Adelaide who now house and maintain the three vehicles and work closely with Aurrigo to promote and demonstrate the technology right across Australia at their city based locations.
In the short to medium term we expect that the office opened in Singapore in March 2022 will handle all interactions with Australia going forward and work with Sage to develop that market.
The Group also has a Canadian wholly owned subsidiary based in Ottawa, Aurrigo Canada Ltd, which was established in 2018. In January 2019, the company was granted circa CAN$300k to develop and demonstrate the use of autonomous vehicles. The grant was awarded by Invest Ottawa as part of their on-going strategy to investigate and trial autonomous technology with a view to future rollout and a strategy to make Ottawa a centre of excellence for this emerging market.
As part of the grant project, three four-seater Auto-Pods were shipped to Canada and were housed and trialled at the AREA X.O testing facility. Working with Transport Canada, a program of tests and trials in extreme weather conditions were completed and Aurrigo was able to see first-hand how its ADS worked in heavy snow conditions. At the end of the program one of the Auto-Pods has been moved to the University of Western Michigan in the US and we expect to see further grant funding from that deployment. The two remaining Auto-Pods are ready to be deployed into a new program which is in current negotiations with Invest Ottawa to potentially start in 4th Quarter 2022.
The Group see’s Australia, Canada, Singapore, UK and the US as a leader in autonomous vehicles, associated technologies and the development of a sustainable supply base so we will continue to work to gain more grant funded programs as well as paid deployments and in time sales of our vehicles and technology.