Award-winning SCALE project launches full route to business park

Solihull Council and the SCALE consortium have announced that the latest phase of the award‑winning Solihull & Coventry Automated Links Evolution (SCALE) project has gone live.

Its fleet of autonomous shuttles have begun operating for the first time along the full 7km route between Resorts World, the NEC (including access to Birmingham International Train Station), and Birmingham Business Park (BBP).

This latest deployment builds on the success of earlier phases of SCALE, which from March 2024 to July 2025 saw three Ohmio Lift autonomous shuttles operating across the NEC campus.

Until now, the deployment had stopped before the busy Bickenhill Parkway roundabout, making the launch as the most ambitious real-world operation of the shuttles to date.

Additional support for this latest deployment is being provided by Liftango, who specialise in demand‑responsive transport, fixed‑route, and carpool systems across the world, working with major bus operators, and government transport agencies.

Their UK‑based team is supporting the operational delivery of the deployment, providing real‑time vehicle coordination, passenger trip scheduling, dynamic routing and live shuttle tracking.

Visitors to the NEC, Resorts World, and Birmingham Business Park are encouraged to experience autonomous transport first hand.

There is no need to book in advance. Passengers can also view the route and track shuttle locations in real time via the new SCALE Project website.

The deployment operates Tuesday to Thursday, 10am to 3pm and will run until Thursday 26 March.

Lori McDonagh, marketing, community and business development manager at Birmingham Business Park, said: “As a destination that welcomes up to 10,000 visitors every day, we’re always looking for innovative ways to improve connectivity and enhance the experience for everyone who works here or comes to the park.

“Hosting the full‑route deployment of the SCALE autonomous shuttles is an exciting step forward, giving our community the chance to engage directly with this exciting technology.”

SCALE is delivered by a consortium led by Solihull Council, with partners including WMG at the University of Warwick, Coventry University, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), Ohmio, the NEC, Coventry City Council, IPG, dRISK and now Liftango.