Connected autonomous vehicles in freight transportation
With CAV becoming mainstream, it’s important to understand the role of technology in the freight transportation industry, especially in handling the supply chain of dangerous goods via road infrastructure.
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University of Warwick
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Connected autonomous vehicle in infrastructure environment [CAVIE]
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Engineering
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October 2017 - October 2021
Client needs
Improve road tunnel safety
monitoring and navigating hazardous goods in a secure manner via tunnels
Business opportunities
potential to develop or upgrade tunnel and road infrastructure with CAV technologies including CAV communication service providers to freight industry
Improve supply chain
improve logistics of freight transportation via managed communications
Reduce costs
associated to drayage and carriage of empty containers
Research focus
The initial focus is to analyse the impact of CAV enabled DGVs on road tunnel transport. Further research will look in to the challenges for tunnel infrastructure with the adaptation of CAV technologies and how it should be designed to better facilitate the communication with another CAV enabled DGV. Business cases will be investigated within the smart road infrastructure development with a view to help reduce the risks and safety measures associated with the carriage of hazardous goods.
The transportation of dangerous goods is a concerning factor for road users and the environment. Based on past accidents involving dangerous goods and tunnels, the regulations on their carriage have become more stringent which has led to increased congestion around the tunnels to check and allow DGV traffic. To tackle the problem of congestion and traffic stagnation, it is important to understand the underlying problem regarding the logistics of DGVs. With this study, we aim to analyse the flow of DGVs and associated risks for the tunnel infrastructure in the UK. As CAVs are set to become mainstream, the study will investigate the potential of CAVs and the intelligent road infrastructure to optimise the safe and secure transportation of dangerous goods. Human driving has been identified as a major cause of road related incidents, responsible for 95% of total road accidents due to lack of observation, decision making and response. With CAV technologies, we aim to also reduce the carbon footprint of the transportation industry which now accounts for 24% of CO2 emissions in 2015 globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
Costain has been working with leading universities and government initiated CAV projects such as the A2M2 connected vehicle technology contract and Midlands Future Mobility to test and equip autonomous vehicles on the UK’s road infrastructure. With investment in CAV technologies, we aim to deliver safer roads, reduce road fatalities, decrease carbon emissions, ease congestion, improve parking demand and reduce human driving hours and increase socio-economic productivity.
Through our research, we predict:
- The reduction of toll or tunnel charges
- Eased congestion through the potential elimination of check and allow scenarios for DGVs
- A better coordinated logistics movement of goods which will reduce empty carriages
- Improved fuel efficiency for dynamic platooning.
Contact and social
Tim Embley