The government has announced a £9m fund for research into intelligent transport systems.
The grant is being offered by the Department for Transport, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Future Intelligent Transport System (Fits) project, hopes another £3m will be raised from industry sources for the research funding.
Announcing the new investment, minister for transport Stephen Ladyman said it was just the start of a fruitful collaboration between government and industry.
'Our vision for this initiative is to support highly innovative and wide-ranging research and technology demonstrator projects, combining the best UK expertise in industry, local authorities, transport service providers and universities,' he said.
Fits organisers are now looking for consortiums of companies and universities to come forward with proposals for projects to receive the funding.
The hope is that innovative ideas will be developed and brought into mainstream use, says Richard Bailey, the EPSRC's associate programme manager for transport research.
'We have a completely open mind on what kind of research ideas are going to come in,' he said.
'I don't expect revolutionary change to happen in the transport system, but new ideas are needed.'
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