Our latest project is set to explore new concept of public transport on UK motorways

A newly announced project will use autonomous technology to reimagine the UK’s motorways as an extensive public transport network using self-driving, electric vehicles and roadside stations.

The Connected Places Catapult’s (CPC) “Motorway Mobility” project, funded by Highways England and supported by innovative vehicle manufacturer Arrival, could provide a whole new mode of high capacity, demand responsive public transport.

The vision of ‘Motorway Mobility’ is to use the existing motorway infrastructure together with autonomous vehicles and new transport hubs near to the motorway, to provide new or more frequent services between a wide variety of locations across the country.

The CPC and other industry experts suggest autonomous vehicles could significantly reduce the cost of providing public transport for operators and provide a means to reduce private car use and congestion. This concept enables a new way of delivering public transport, with a larger number of smaller vehicles which could better respond to passenger demand and reduce waiting times and journey times. Motorway Mobility would also make new route options possible, particularly in areas that are not well served by existing public transport services.

Neil Fulton, Chief Operating Officer at the Connected Places Catapult said:

“The Motorway Mobility concept can be imagined as a new rail network, for which our existing motorways are the rails and automated vehicles are the self-driving carriages.  It enables the whole of the motorway network to be reimagined as a public transport network.

This feasibility study will explore how frequent and convenient services of this type throughout the day and night could enable users to switch from the private car to public transport. This will give people back some of their free time that was spent driving, during which they could catch up on work or simply relax. This will also lead to reduced congestion, improved safety, reduced public transport journey times and will create new business opportunities.”

The Connected Places Catapult will explore how vehicle manufacturers, autonomous control system developers, small and large companies, local employers, local authorities, public transport operators, social-behavioural experts and other organisations can work together to create this new public transport mode. It is hoped the solution will be scalable across the whole of the UK’s motorway network and beyond, in the future.

The Catapult is looking for innovative, forward thinking businesses to engage with for potential future phases of the project. If you are interested in getting involved in this or similar projects, please get in touch.