Smart construction and engineering company Costain has been awarded the contract by Highways England to design, install and implement one of the UK’s first connected vehicle corridors in Kent County.
Back in 2017, Highways England announced the proposal to install high-speed fibre-optic cable across much of the country’s roadways. As part of the proposal, the company announced a $19 million pilot project known as the A2/M2 Connected Corridor.
The A2/M2 is expected to cover a 4km stretch between London and Dover. A further 19km test will take place next year, and subject to a successful review, a 55km trial will be undertaken in 2020.
“Having the technology in place to allow vehicles to connect to each other and the road around them has the potential to improve journeys, making them safer and more reliable by providing real-time, personalised information directly to the driver, while also helping us manage traffic and respond to incidents,” said Mike Wilson, Highways England director.
Roadside technology will be implemented using data supplied by Transport for London, Highways England and Kent County Council. Trial vehicles will be fitted with onboard technology, which will communicate with roadside units via wireless and cellular communication, creating what the Costain calls a ‘wi-fi road’.
The purpose of this connectivity is for the ability to convey real-time information to vehicles in relation to road works, road conditions, temporary speed limits, and the time remaining before a traffic light turns to green.
The A2/M2 will also act as a technology testbed for Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS), which will allow road users and traffic managers to share information and use it to coordinate their actions.
The ‘wi-fi road’ is expected to significantly improve road safety, traffic efficiency and driving comfort, by helping drivers make the right decisions and adapt to traffic situations. The project also hopes to promote the UK as a market leader in autonomous vehicle development.
“This is an important step in making our roads safer and improving journey time reliability by embracing cutting edge technology,” said Andrew Wyllie, chief executive of Costain.
“It is a further demonstration of Costain’s capability and we look forward to leading the way with the deployment and testing of this exciting technology.”
Information from the project will eventually be used to develop connected vehicle standards and facilitate a wide-scale distribution of connected vehicle technology.
Ultimately, Highway England hopes to have self-driving cars on the road by 2021. If the pilot project is successful, the company hopes to try the same system with fully automated cars.
Costain will deliver the contract with core partners Mott MacDonald, 4way Consulting, TRL, Kapsch TrafficCom AG, Altran, Cohda Wireless, Telent Technology Services and Telefonica.
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