Signs of the future

Highways England has showcased new, innovative technology to an international audience.

Highways England is pioneering work which will transform journeys on the country’s busiest routes with innovative technology, and enable vehicles and the roads to ‘talk’ to each other. The technology was showcased to an international audience at ‘TESTFEST’ by Highways England and its partners in the development, the Department for Transport, Kent County Council and Transport for London.

The week-long event has attracted more than 60 people from the automobile world to allow them to understand the technology and see how it could be used in the construction of future vehicle designs.

The project sees a high-tech ‘corridor’ developed on the A2/M2 in Kent to let specially-equipped vehicles interact with roadside infrastructure in a move which promises safer, more reliable journeys and speedier maintenance, to reduce delays.

Highways England Head of Intelligent Transport Systems Group Jo White said: “Connecting vehicles to each other and the road around can improve journeys, make them safer and give drivers reliable, real-time personalised information; it could also help us manage traffic and respond to incidents. We’re supporting the Government’s aim to be world leading in the development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV). The TESTFEST is a vital part of that, because it means the initiatives we take forward and the vehicles being developed all align so drivers continue to have safe journeys in the future.”

Roads Minister Jesse Norman said: “Between 2015 and 2020, the Government is planning to invest over £20Bn on improving and extending the UK’s road network, helping businesses, individuals and families alike.

“New technologies are increasingly playing a central role in this process of transformation, and connected and autonomous vehicles could be worth tens of billions of pounds to the UK economy by 2035. This exciting project showcases some of the emerging technologies involved.”

The A2/M2 Connected Corridor is a joint project between the Department for Transport, Highways England, Transport for London and Kent County Council. It is part of InterCor, an EU project that aims to test services that work across borders, connecting the UK to the Netherlands, France and Belgium. The project started in 2016 and is due to be completed in 2019.

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