Skip to main content

UK government to open up roadworks data

The UK government plans to open up roadwork data to tech companies with the aim of reducing traffic jams. The Department of Transport (DfT) says companies could potentially develop navigation apps powered by artificial intelligence that can warn drivers up to months in advance of planned disruption to routes and offer alternatives. George Freeman, minister for the future of transport, says the announcement will “help open up data, reducing congestion, pollution and frustration for road users”. The
September 2, 2019 Read time: 1 min
The UK government plans to open up roadwork data to tech companies with the aim of reducing traffic jams.


The Department of Transport (DfT) says companies could potentially develop navigation apps powered by artificial intelligence that can warn drivers up to months in advance of planned disruption to routes and offer alternatives.

George Freeman, minister for the future of transport, says the announcement will “help open up data, reducing congestion, pollution and frustration for road users”.

The move is also expected to aid the development of route planning systems for connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs).

Working with local authorities and the C/AV sector, the DfT will look at introducing legislation to make it easier to access data around 5,000 yearly road closures.

UTC

Related Content

  • October 28, 2015
    Emissions reductions targets to have major impact on transport
    As bold moves aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions have been introduced in California, David Crawford looks at the ramifications for transportation. California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent dramatic raising of the bar on emissions reduction policy for the state has won him praise from Japan, Australia, Europe and the secretariat of the critical UN conference on climate change being held in Paris in November/December 2015. His April 2015 executive order aimed at bringing emissions to 40% below 1990 lev
  • December 5, 2018
    MaaS will be adopted quicker in Europe than in the US: here’s why
    A new report suggests that MaaS will be implemented more quickly in Europe than in the US – but why should this be? Ben Spencer examines the arguments
  • June 13, 2017
    Transport integration separates rural idyll from remote isolation
    David Crawford investigates the operation of Total Transport in some of Europe’s more rural areas. Total Transport is a concept that is gaining traction in Europe as a means of making it easier for people without access to a car and living in rural and remote communities, to travel to work, the shops, schools and hospitals. It involves maximising vehicle availability and integrating scheduled services with other transport services (including taxis) commissioned or contracted by more than one local governmen
  • June 2, 2014
    Strike action prompts commuters to try something different
    David Crawford highlights responses to transit disruption on both sides of the Atlantic. Shortly before workers at San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) began a lengthy round of pay and conditions-related strikes in summer 2013, impacting on the daily lives of 400,000 communities, online ridesharing group Avego publicised a new web address: bartstrike.com. By the start of the following week, Avego was encouraging stranded commuters to download its smartphone app by offering them the chance in a raffle