Autonomous vehicle software innovator FiveAI is scaling again in Cambridge and across the UK and bidding to raise fresh millions before the end of this year, Business Weekly can reveal.

CEO Stan Boland and one of the most highly qualified workforces ever witnessed in the world of automotive technology are on a mission to prevent US and Chinese businesses from controlling transport systems in the UK and Europe.

Boland’s team have just sent a fleet of suitably coloured light blue vehicles onto London’s roads, heavily armed with sensors, to collect data vital to putting the world’s safest driverless vehicles into action.

Business Weekly named FiveAI Startup of the Year in March 2017 and the company has already mushroomed from single figure headcount to more than 120 people across six UK sites, including Cambridge and the Millbrpok Testing Ground in Bedfordshire.

As we reported first last September, FiveAI clinched a cash haul of almost £27 million through a mix of Series A equity finance and a grant from the UK government which Boland said enabled the fledgling business to take on its deep pocketed US rivals head-to-head.

Boland had revealed to Business Weekly that it might take £50m to make real inroads on commercial testing of the technology and the fundraising to be revealed later this year will tell us more.

Locally, FiveAI is actively seeking  C++ software, research, test, autonomous vehicle and system software engineers for its Cambridge and Millbrook operations.

And Ben Peters, one of Boland’s loyal lieutenants, told Business Weekly today that FiveAI was on the cusp of genuine breakthroughs in its push for commercialisation.

He told me: “We’re already more than 120 people across our six UK sites and growing not only fast but strong – around 40 per cent of our people have PhDs in machine learning, AI, Physics, Maths and Engineering. 

“We’ve been testing at Millbrook for the last 18 months, having progressed to testing on public roads a few months ago and are now ramping up activities in London in order to get a deep understanding of the domain in which we’ll operate. 

“We’ll be doing our first supervised user trials for our autonomous mobility service in London at the end of 2019. 

“The UK, and Europe as a whole, is a huge market for urban mobility services that promise to reduce congestion and improve the lives of inhabitants. 

“Europe also produces some of the best talent in the world capable of solving the challenges associated with delivering urban autonomy. We’re about configuring that talent behind our mission and winning in Europe – preventing US and Chinese firms from controlling our transport systems. 
“It’s going to take great people, great effort and a lot of capital but it’s important and we love a challenge!”

Boland and Peters believe this talent edge will prove crucial in the technology tussle with Google, Uber and Apple, for example, to launch the first safe and properly tested driverless cars on European roads.