In a bid to enhance safety on motorways and major A roads, National Highways has identified nine ground-breaking initiatives to receive funding of up to £90,000. Among these finalists are members of LCRIG: Roadside Technologies, Route Reports, Valerann and VESOS. All showcasing their innovative solutions to transform hazard management and mitigate risks for road users and workers alike.
The competition specifically targeted small and medium-sized enterprises. This strategic emphasis aimed to foster collaboration with entities that may not have previously collaborated with National Highways, potentially uncovering hidden gems of innovation in hazard management strategies. Hazards might include potholes and subsidence, flooding and extreme weather, obstructions, unsafe driving behaviour and incidents on the road network.
National Highways’ Technology Programme Portfolio Manager, James Gibson, said: “We had some fantastic submissions and it wasn’t easy whittling the list down to nine. But we are very optimistic that these schemes will be able to improve safety and help prevent people coming to harm on our roads.”
The Nine Projects are:
- Esitu Solutions (Nottingham): Developing a virtual reality training course for safer driving practices, accessible via the Meta Quest headset.
- VESOS (Devon): Innovating with TeCall to harvest eCall data post-collisions, enhancing hazard identification and response capabilities.
- PRAM (Dublin): Introducing a 3D radar technology-based solution to predict weather-related hazards and surface conditions effectively.
- VivaCity (London): Utilising sensors to monitor road user interactions, facilitating proactive hazard mitigation measures.
- Roadside Technologies (Chesterfield): Pioneering an automated hazardous object detection solution, enhancing road user safety in temporary work zones.
- CrossTech (Wiltshire): Introducing a stopped vehicle detection verification system, leveraging automated computer vision inspection technology.
- Route Reports (London): Introducing a video analytics-based road monitoring device for automatic hazard detection, fitted to National Highways vehicles.
- TransPix (Hull): Using video analytics and computer vision technology to improve road and workplace safety by detecting complex behaviours and hazards.
- Valerann (London): Introducing an AI real-time road data analytics platform for comprehensive traffic situation insights and accident risk modelling.
By leveraging state-of-the-art technology and innovative methodologies, these winning initiatives aim to significantly reduce road accidents and enhance the safety of all road users and workers.
National Highways is collaborating with Connected Places Catapult on the Hazard Protection on Roads Accelerator. The shortlisted organisations will now get funding of £15,000 to £30,000 to design their trials. The projects will then be whittled down to five and those projects awards up to £60,000 to deliver their trials.
LCRIG would like to congratulate our members and wish them well for the next stage of the process. As all finalists embark on their journey to implement and refine their innovative solutions, the future of road safety looks promising.