Highways England and National Infrastructure Commission have announced that they have up to £200,000 available to invest in projects dedicated to studying changes to roads and infrastructure to maximise the benefits of driverless and connected autonomous vehicles technology.
The developing technology around self-driving cars is on the rise and we are closer than ever to having autonomous vehicles on our roads. Correspondingly, the roads that we navigate may also incur changes – for example, there may be no need for traffic lights, vehicles could move in convoys and lane directions may change depending on the time of the day. Therefore, the infrastructure must support self-driving cars and allow users to take full advantage of their benefits.
The competition requires participants to submit practical ideas on designing and managing roads in the areas of road design which includes related infrastructure, road rules and regulations, and traffic management. The first phase studies feasibility and offers the chance to receive up to 150,000. The best project could then attract another £50,000 to develop it further in a second phase.
The competition for the chance to win funding is now open with phase one contacts expected to be worth up to £30,000 – open to any organisation that can show a clear route to market for its idea.
