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

  • Drive Safe India Initiative: Improving Safety of Truck Drivers and Goods Transport
    July 14, 2017
    In India, more than 11% of all fatalities from traffic accidents, or over 16,000 lives, involve commercial vehicles Given the loss of life, and the costs of damage to goods and property, there is an urgent need to reduce, and eventually eliminate this unnecessary loss of life. Shell, Michelin, and IRF Geneva have come together with a new initiative "Drive Safe India" (www.drivesafeindia.org) to improve all aspects of safety associated with transport of goods on Indian roads. The goal of the Drive Safe Ind
    Read More
  • New tests aim for longer pavement life and reduced surface problems
    October 24, 2019
    Highways authorities around the world are testing every component of a pavement in a bid to improve durability. Kristina Smith looks at two very different examples, one from the UK and one from the US
    Read More
  • Reducing asphalt plant downtime
    December 12, 2018
    How asphalt plant control add-ons make operation easier while reducing costly downtime - *Carlos Cardenas The word downtime might as well be a curse word in the asphalt production industry. As any operator will say, unplanned plant shutdowns can end up costing a producer heavily in lost production, not to mention a line of unhappy truck drivers and asphalt customers. The key is to get ahead of the problem and spot issues before they skyrocket in severity. Fortunately, some asphalt plant manufacturers offe
    Read More
  • Highways England starts moving on projects for the eastern region
    September 30, 2015
    Highways England has met suppliers and stakeholders to discuss how it will spend more than €2.7 billion to improve roads across the East of England region in the next six years. The work is part of the government’s Road Investment Strategy to triple levels of spending on England’s roads by the end of the decade. Plans include major improvements on the M11, A5 and M1, A1(M), A12, A14, A47 and A428. Roads minister Andrew Jones said the investment is the largest in a generation.
    Read More

Highlighted Content