Skip to main content

GPS-guided gritters deployed in central London

Westminster City Council, in the heart of London, has invested around US$800,000 in new GPS-guided gritting trucks for winter road maintenance.
March 14, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Westminster City Council, in the heart of London, has invested around US$800,000 in new GPS-guided gritting trucks for winter road maintenance.

The new machines – six 18 tonne payload and two 10 tonne payload gritters - will be controlled from a central command centre as they operate throughout some 1,000 kms of road and pavement in Westminster borough.

Each truck will be tracked by the on-board GPS unit, while sensors will indicate whether or not each vehicle is spreading salt or just travelling. An on-board satellite navigation unit allows drivers to be given visible instructions of where to go and the best route to get there, delivering greater round efficiency and ensuring salt is spread where it is most needed.

Related Content

  • Trials show fuel savings with connected vehicle technology
    December 16, 2015
    American and European trials point to fuel and emissions reductions. A trial by University of California-Riverside (UC-Riverside) has shown connected vehicle technology has the potential to reduce fuel consumption (and therefore emissions) by up to 18% compared with an uninformed driver.
  • London needs just one road user charge, says report
    July 8, 2019
    London’s patchwork of road charging schemes should be replaced by a single, distance-based user charge, according to new research. Apart from anything else, it would be much fairer… The UK capital’s multiple road charging schemes require a radical overhaul, according to a new report by the Centre for London thinktank. The suggested solution is to replace existing levies on drivers with a single, distance-based user charge which would more fairly reflect how much, and at what time, people are using London
  • First pan-London Car Club Action Plan launched
    May 21, 2015
    Around 85 per cent of UK car club members already based in London New plan will help reach new joint target of one million London car club members by 2025 Future growth of car clubs will help improve London’s air quality and reduce congestion in the Capital A new ‘strategy for car clubs’ in London has been launched today (21 May), to encourage residents and businesses across the capital to sign up to car club schemes as an alternative to direct car ownership. The new action plan, jointly developed b
  • Why integrated traffic management needs a cohesive approach
    April 10, 2012
    Traffic control is increasingly being viewed as one essential element of a wider ‘system of systems’ – the smart city. Jason Barnes, Jon Masters and David Crawford report on latest ideas and efforts for making cities ‘smarter’ Virtually every element of the fabric and utilitarian operations that make urban areas tick can now be found somewhere in the mix that is the ‘smart city’ agenda. Ideas have expanded and projects pursued in different directions as the rhetoric on making cities ‘smarter’ has grown. App