Self-driving plant to be standard for road works by 2035

Self-driving plant looks likely to be standard for road works by 2035.
By MJ Woof June 16, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Automated machines could be in common use for road construction by 2035 – image © courtesy Mike Woof

Highways England is introducing a 15-year plan for a digital revolution in the road construction industry. One of the key changes will be the use of driver-less machines on site. According to Highways England, this could boost productivity by £400 billion while lowering the numbers of deaths and injuries onsite.

Connected and autonomous plant (CAP) has already been used on the A14 improvement project where automated dump trucks were trialled.

Highways England is joining forces with TRL and the Infrastructure Industry Innovation Partnership (i3P) to develop plans for the use of CAP techniques to become standard industry practice by 2035.

According to Highways England, adoption of this technology across the construction sector could reduce site fatalities by 37% and improve productivity by up to £400 billion by 2040. In addition, the technology could deliver annual savings of £53 billion across new construction work. Highways England also says that the technology could  assist with 47% of construction activities currently performed.

Mark Thurston, CEO of HS2 said: “This work charts an extremely exciting and potentially game changing route as to how we operate our sites as we build Britain.

“My challenge to our industry is to take the steps we can take today to improve our future, moving forwards together to make our people more efficient, and safer than ever.”

Asphalt milling, paving & compaction

Related Content

  • Worrying crash statistics
    April 24, 2012
    Official statistics available for the UK collated by the police show that during the 12 years to 2011, there were over 3,000,000 road casualties in Great Britain. During this 12 year period over 36,000 people died while a further 373,985 were seriously injured.
    Read More
  • Slow down for road safety says FIA
    September 19, 2018
    Driving too fast is a leading cause of road fatalities, according to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Region I. Data from the FIA says that an estimated 40%-50% of people drive over the speed limit while a 5% reduction in average speed could result in a 30% decrease in number of fatal crashes. FIA Region I and its members in Europe, the Middle East and Africa are launching a campaign ‘Slowing Down Saves Lives’ and are urging drivers to respect speed limits. In support of the campaign, FI
    Read More
  • TISPOL: drink driving continues to be a pan-European concern
    January 18, 2016
    Drink-drive enforcement still has issues in Europe, according to pan-European police body TISPOL Drink-driving is the cause of around 5,000 road deaths in Europe. In the UK alone, it is estimated that 230 (14%) of the country’s 1,713 road deaths are due to drinking and driving. For England, Wales and Northern Ireland the limit for driving is still 80mg (0.8) of alcohol/100ml of blood. Scotland reduced its limit to 50mg (0.5) of alcohol/100ml of blood in December 2014, bringing it into line with most
    Read More
  • The Preston Western Distributor
    September 7, 2023
    Costain, as main contractor for the Preston Western Distributor project, was involved from the earliest stages, thanks to the UK’s Early Contractor Involvement approach. The project was delivered on time and on budget to the benefit of the local environment, local businesses and the region’s workforce. David Arminas reports*
    Read More

Highlighted Content