Skip to main content

Majority of people ‘unaware of smart cities’, says ATG Access

More than two-thirds of people do not know what a smart city is - and around a quarter find the concept worrying due to lack of available information, says a new study. ATG Access surveyed 1,000 UK participants and found that just 24% of people in this category believe the concept would improve overall safety. Smart Cities: Turning the dream into a reality says educating the public on how smart cities can help solve challenges on traffic congestion will be key to solving consumer reservations. Of
January 23, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
More than two-thirds of people do not know what a smart city is - and around a quarter find the concept worrying due to lack of available information, says a new %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external study false https://www.atgaccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ATG_SmartCitiesNov18.pdf false false%>.


ATG Access surveyed 1,000 UK participants and found that just 24% of people in this category believe the concept would improve overall safety.

Smart Cities: Turning the dream into a reality says educating the public on how smart cities can help solve challenges on traffic congestion will be key to solving consumer reservations.

Of the 32% of people who are aware of smart cities, nearly three-quarters believe the technology would improve issues such as congestion.

Nearly a quarter of people who know about the smart city concept are happy for a portion of their tax contribution to go toward installing smart solutions. This willingness increased to 57% for measures which affect transport infrastructure.

Consumer safety is a top priority, as 25% of people say they want smart barrier solutions installed to zone off affected areas where an incident has taken place. In the event of a terrorist attack, more than six out of 10 people would like to see improvements to local road systems to allow the emergency services to reach their incident faster.

Other findings showed that traditional methods of easing traffic flow scored lowest among consumers as only 37% of respondents want to see more parking restrictions on busy roads. Four out of 10 want dedicated cycling and bus lanes during busy times.

Related Content

  • Highways England urged to make CCTV of “swerve to avoid” crashes available to insurers
    March 17, 2017
    With distracted driving causing a dramatic rise in ‘swerve to avoid’ crashes, Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA) has welcomed a clarification by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that traffic flow CCTV is not personal data. In a stance criticised by drivers, fleet operators and insurers, Highways England has apparently used the Data Protection Act to justify the deletion of footage after only seven days, even when it might prove liability in a serious accident. It has also cited the cost of st
  • Waymo gets California green light for public driverless tests
    November 2, 2018
    Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual
  • An even more focused Vaisala
    March 28, 2013
    An important strategic task every company must do periodically is review products and make sure they match the goals and direction of the company. In March, Vaisala, the global weather solutions provider, concluded that three non-weather road transportation products no longer match its long term strategy, and thus sold these products to another company. Vaisala says the change will allow it to increase its already industry-leading innovations, such as the non-intrusive road weather sensors, and the Conditio
  • India ‘to consider single tag’ for all toll roads
    October 8, 2019
    Indian transportation officials will meet this month (October) to discuss implementing a ‘One Nation One Tag’ policy to replace multiple smart tags being used on toll roads. The Times of India says the Fastag RFID-based smart tag is being used to pay tolls on the national highway network – but that commercial vehicles must have a separate tag to enter Delhi. An unnamed official is quoted as saying: "Why should people be made to buy multiple smart tags to pay toll on different roads? There have been comp