Tantalum has announced the upcoming launch of its Air Car trials, and has urged companies to participate and tackle air pollution.

The company was awarded funding to develop Air Car by Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles.

The Air Car project aims to estimate real-time NOx emissions and help businesses drive down these emissions. 

The tests will deliver data on congestion, vehicle types and air pollution in the hopes to develop an understanding and create effecive plans for cleaner cities. 

Companies are being recruited from the public and commercial sectors as part of its six-month trial, which will run within London and other UK cities where Clean Air Zones are to be established.

Tantalum said that “participation will be a quantifiable enhancement to any business’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme, helping them to reduce their environmental impact”.

Imperial College London will assist in developing and verifying the technology to accurately estimate NOx emissions.

Dr Marc Stettler, from the department of civil and environmental engineering at Imperial College, London, said: “Air Car will deliver rich data sets, which will play a key role in helping the government understand the relationship between congestion, vehicle types and air pollution.

"All of this data will help organisations create effective plans for cleaner, smarter and healthier cities.”

Tantalum’s business to government lead on Air Car Matthew Pencharz (pictured) said: “It is our belief that companies, local authorities and the public all want to help clean up the air we breathe.

“Take up for the trial has been very strong, with organisations from leasing, local government and higher education already signing up to participate.

"We have also had interest from independent businesses and are looking forward to more coming on board to make a real difference.”

Registration ends in January 2018, with the trial going live in February 2018. Businesses interested in more information can visit Air Car's website.