The session opened with a regional deployment perspective from Andrea Reacroft (Tees Valley Combined Authority), before broadening into a panel discussion chaired by Catherine Whitfield (ITS UK, Mott MacDonald). The panel featured Joyce Achampong (Institution of Mechanical Engineers), Jamie Hodsdon (Waymo), Tim Edwards (JLR), and Josh Robson (ScaleUp Institute).

Together, they set out a view of CAM not as a single technology challenge, but as a system-level growth question – requiring coordination across infrastructure, skills, supply chains and investment.

A regional system already in motion

Andrea Reacroft positioned Tees Valley not as a future adopter, but as an active customer and deployer of CAM-enabled transport systems. The region’s approach is built on a sequence of integrated capabilities:

  • A unified traffic management system (UTMC), integrating signals, sensors and real-time data across a large road network
  • A digital twin, enabling simulation, optimisation and measurable improvements in network performance
  • Connectivity mapping to identify and address digital infrastructure gaps
  • A multimodal testbed environment spanning airport, port and logistics operations.

This layered approach enables CAM to be introduced progressively, rather than as a standalone deployment. Early results – such as measurable improvements in bus journey times – demonstrate how data-led system optimisation can deliver value ahead of full automation.

The CASTLE programme, including the pilot at Teesside International Airport, represents the next phase of this strategy. Initial deployments in controlled environments are being used to build operational experience, validate safety and de-risk future rollout onto public roads.

Crucially, this is not positioned as an isolated pilot. It sits within a longer-term ambition to establish connected autonomous road corridors linking ports, airports and industrial hubs – supporting both passenger mobility and freight logistics across the region and beyond.

 

From deployment to scale: the core challenge

The panel discussion framed initiatives such as Tees Valley’s move from pilot activity to sustained, large-scale deployment.

Tim Edwards framed the central challenge as the transition from demonstration to commercialisation, noting that value must be realised incrementally:

  • Benefits from enabling technologies (data, connectivity, digital twins) should be captured alongside autonomy
  • Deployment should focus on clear use-case value, such as safety, efficiency and reliability improvements
  • Scaling requires aligning both technology developers and end users around shared outcomes.

He also highlighted the need to stabilise emerging supply chains, suggesting that linking multiple deployment sites and use cases could provide the demand certainty needed for suppliers to scale.

 

Ecosystems, not projects

Josh Robson reinforced the importance of regional leadership and ecosystem development. Drawing on broader UK growth data, he emphasised that successful scale-up environments:

  • Focus on a clear regional specialism
  • Build partnerships across adjacent geographies and sectors
  • Enable value to be realised incrementally, rather than waiting for a single end-state.

He noted that the primary constraints on growth businesses are not limited to finance. Instead, access to markets and talent consistently emerge as the leading barriers, with capital following once those conditions are in place.

This reframes CAM deployment as part of a wider economic system: one where clusters of capability, talent and demand must develop together.

 

Skills as a foundational constraint

Joyce Achampong identified skills development as a critical enabler of long-term deployment.

Her contribution highlighted two key gaps:

  • A disconnect between academic training and industry-ready capability
  • A need for broader, multidisciplinary skillsets beyond traditional engineering.

Programmes such as Formula Student AI were presented as mechanisms to bridge this gap – developing not only technical expertise, but also systems thinking and practical experience.

The discussion also expanded the definition of required skills to include:

  • AI and data capabilities
  • Systems integration
  • Commercial and market-facing roles.

This aligns with the panel’s wider view that CAM is not solely an engineering challenge, but a cross-sector workforce transition.

Regulatory readiness as a UK advantage

Jamie Hodsdon provided an industry perspective on deployment conditions, highlighting the UK’s regulatory environment as a key differentiator.

He identified two factors that influenced Waymo’s decision to enter the UK market:

  • A holistic regulatory framework, covering the full pathway from vehicle approval to passenger operations
  • The presence of a coordinating body (CCAV), providing a clear interface with government.

This contrasts with more fragmented approaches in other jurisdictions, where multiple agencies can create uncertainty and delay.

However, he noted that the next phase requires moving beyond regulatory readiness to operational deployment at scale, ensuring that legislation translates into real-world services.

 

Public adoption: from acceptance to demand

The panel also explored the conditions for public uptake of CAM services.

A consistent theme was the distinction between:

  • Acceptance of the technology
  • Active demand for its use.

Evidence from US deployments suggests that direct experience is a key driver of trust. Once users engage with services, perceptions shift from scepticism to utility.

However, speakers emphasised that adoption depends on clear, tangible benefits:

  • Improved safety outcomes
  • Reduced cost or increased convenience
  • Solutions to existing transport gaps.

There was also recognition that an effective rollout of CAM technologies must address broader societal concerns, including workforce impacts and job transitions.

 

CAM as optimisation, not disruption

An audience intervention challenged the framing of CAM as problem-solving, suggesting instead that it may primarily optimise existing transport functions rather than fundamentally change them.

Panel responses broadly aligned with this view. Rather than positioning CAM as creating entirely new demand, speakers described it as:

  • Improving cost efficiency in logistics and transport
  • Enhancing safety outcomes
  • Providing alternative service models where existing provision is limited or uneconomic.

This reinforces the idea that CAM’s value lies in system-level optimisation – making existing mobility networks more efficient, resilient and scalable.

 

Signals of a growth trajectory

Across the discussion, four consistent signals emerged as indicators of a sector moving toward commercial viability:

  • Skills availability – a workforce capable of deploying and operating CAM systems
  • Technology readiness – proven performance in real-world environments
  • Supply chain maturity – stable, scalable networks of suppliers and service providers
  • Access to markets and finance – demand signals and capital aligned to growth.

The Tees Valley example illustrates how these elements can begin to align at a regional level. The panel discussion suggested that, in order to scale CAM nationally, these conditions will need to be replicated and connected across multiple regions and use cases.