The UK Government has invited companies to bid for £30m of funding that will be provided to support the development of self-driving vehicles on UK roads.

Funding will be provided by the government through the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and Meridian, the Government’s unique hub for testing autonomous technology.

The new initiative is part of the government’s plan to see fully self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021.

UK Business Minister Richard Harrington said: “Self-driving vehicles have the potential to revolutionise the way we move people and goods across the UK. They also support our ambition for a cleaner, greener future as part of our modern industrial strategy.

“The next bid round will see an allocation of £5m for projects that will address parking issues through the development and testing of autonomous parking technologies.”

“The UK is already leading the way in developing this technology and today’s funding will bring self-driving vehicles one step closer to becoming a normal feature on UK roads and could, in time, make learning to parallel park a thing of the past.”

The latest announcement builds on the previous competition round in which four UK projects were awarded a total of £51m to test the speed, safety and potential opportunities for delivering connected and autonomous (CAV) innovation.

Automotive Council Technology chair Graham Hoare said: “On behalf of the Automotive Council, I welcome the latest developments at Meridian Mobility Technology, the UK’s CAV development capability.

“Meridian continues the acceleration of the UK’s CAV development facilities with the announcement of important partnerships as part of the latest outcomes of the TestBed programme, Wave 2&3.

“These new capabilities will complement our strengthening UK test capability with the advantage of a ‘one-stop shop’ mindset for the industry.”

The next bid round will see an allocation of £5m for projects that will address parking issues through the development and testing of autonomous parking technologies.

Additionally, the funding will be used for the creation of two permanent self-driving test sites in the UK, the first of their kind in Europe.