Firms are invited to look at the impact of technological advances like low carbon, connected and autonomous vehicles on how the UK’s transport network operates.

Highways England said: “While our roads have been evolving, the biggest opportunities will come from planning ahead longer term to anticipate and respond to the requirements of future vehicles.”

Applications for funding must cover one of six core themes:

• design, construction and maintenance, including:
  • greater automation of the design process
  • greater automation of construction work, including the inspection and management of assets
  • adopting more modular construction techniques
  • expanding and improving data collection
  • creating a unified asset management system
  • increasing the use of advanced materials that are self-maintaining and extend the asset lifecycle
• connected and autonomous vehicles, such as maximising their safety and capability and increasing uptake
• customer mobility, such as improving experiences for road users and connections with other modes of transport
• energy and the environment, which covers electric and other clean energy sources as well as the impacts that road networks have on neighbouring environments
• operations, from customer service and traffic management, to roadworks and incident and severe weather response
• air quality, particularly targeting oxides of nitrogen and other air pollutants

The competition opens next month. For more information and to apply click here