Roads for the Future Competition
Seeking ideas to prepare the UK's roads for connected and autonomous vehicles.
Summary
Launched in January 2018, this new innovation prize looked for innovative and creative ideas on how to deliver a world-class road network in the UK ready for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).
From 81 entries, an expert jury selected five shortlisted ideas (listed in the tab on the left) and the joint winners – City Science and Leeds City Council – were announced on 29 September 2018.
The UK is a world-leader in developing connected and autonomous vehicles, with the first such cars already undergoing testing. As the technology improves and progresses, the country’s road network will need to adapt to ensure the country can make the most of this opportunity.
This competition, run with Highways England and Innovate UK, searched for innovative approaches to road design, traffic management, and adapting the rules of the road, to take account of this new technology.
The five shortlisted entries (see tab) each received £30,000 of funding to further develop their ideas and the chance to have their ideas tested.
Four other commended entries were put in contact with leading figures across Government and industry to test their ideas.
The final winners – City Science and Leeds City Council – each received £25,000 from a dedicated £50,000 prize fund.
Shortlisted entries
The five shortlisted entries selected by an expert jury in May 2018.
Testing traffic light speed advice
AECOM
This entry will investigate how technology can enable traffic lights to ‘talk’ to vehicles. It will use a computer model of part of a traffic corridor in York using VISSIM software to allow the team to simulate in detail how individual vehicles might communicated with traffic lights. One technology being tested is Green light optimised speed advisory (GLOSA), which lets vehicles know when traffic signals will change to green so they can adjust their speed and avoid coming to a complete stop. This should help to cut congestion and end ‘stop-go’ driving, which can increase air pollution.
FlexKerbs
How will CAVs vie for space on our busy high streets? This proposal considers the future management of the side of the road through the introduction of flexible kerb space, or ‘FlexKerbs’. Driven by real-time data, FlexKerbs will adjust permitted kerbside uses throughout the day and week to ensure that space both meets demand and achieves local transport goals. Over the course of a day, a single FlexKerb segment could function as a cycle path at rush hour, a pedestrian plaza at lunchtime, a CAV rank in the evening and a loading zone overnight. The team will select a typical high street in London to simulate this idea.
Segregated driverless spaces
Based in Exeter, this team will examine how sections of existing roads could be dedicated to driverless cars. Segregated routes are often used to improve congestion and make travelling safer, such as bus lanes and segregated cycle ways. Segregation is a practical and secure way of providing prioritised access for vehicles. For autonomous vehicles, segregated zones would enable enhanced network capacity, increased safety, reduced risk and greater integration with the existing transport network. This entry will identify clear strategies for segregated zones to maximise the benefits of autonomous vehicles, while minimising the risks.
Traffic prediction for CAVs
Immense
This entry considers how CAVs can be best deployed to beat congestion and improve the air quality of the cities we live in. Working together with Oxfordshire County Council, Immense will use historic urban traffic data to train an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform to predict future travel conditions on the road network, with the potential to optimise CAV fleet routing. AI could allow local authorities to use predictive vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) control to ‘nudge’ CAV behaviour and optimise local traffic flows. This concept will be tested using simulated models of four busy roads in Oxfordshire: Abingdon Road, Thames Street, Oxpens Road, and Botley Road.
Talking traffic lights
Traffic lights are important tools to manage traffic flow. This entry will examine how the data generated from digitally connected cars could be used to improve traffic light systems, allowing highway authorities to better manage traffic on their roads and thereby reduce tailbacks. The team will use simulations of roads across Leeds to test their idea.
Latest Updates
Roads For The Future: speech by Sir John Armitt to the UK Transport Infrastructure Summit
Good morning. Thank you to Transport Times for hosting today’s event, and for kindly inviting me to open the proceedings. Thank you also for giving my fellow Commissioner, Julia Prescot, and staff from the Commission the opportunity to talk more this afternoon about our vision for the UK’s future transport infrastructure. The National Infrastructure Commission...