Connected technology can deliver significant benefits to city transportation: aiding decarbonisation and air quality improvement with enablement of greener methods of transport, easing congestion. Our LoRaWAN network connects a number of traffic and motion sensors designed to monitor traffic flows around the city and our 5G network is a key enabler for the Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle, which is due to go live in 2025. The city 5G network also has the potential to extend and support the V-CAL project which has trialled the use of zero emission autonomous HGVs between Nissan and Vantec.
Traffic and Motion Video Sensors
The innovative city centre project will help us gather insights into road usage and the movement of vehicles to enhance future plans, inform accurate predictions and minimise congestion. All underpinned by an eco-conscious drive to help the environment and lessen the damaging effects of congestion and inefficient road use.
Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle (SAMS)
The Sunderland Advanced Mobility Shuttle project will trial a self-driving zero emission vehicles, which will transport passengers on public roads between Sunderland Interchange, the Sunderland Royal Hospital, and the University of Sunderland City Campus. Whilst safety drivers will always be onboard, the project will develop and demonstrate a cyber secure remote supervision protocol, an important step towards commercial deployment. This project is led by Sunderland City Council and a consortium of six other public and private partners, and backed by the Centre for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and Innovate UK.
Project V-CAL
Project V-CAL, being led by the StreetDrone, will run up to 4 zero-emission autonomous HGVs between the Vantec and Nissan Sunderland sites, on private roads where the vehicles will navigate traffic lights, roundabouts, and other road users. This is a major step towards deploying the technology on public roads. The HGVs will operate without any personnel on board but will be monitored by a remote safety driver as backup.
Further details on these solutions can be found on our Innovation Challenges page.
For more information on how our networks and solutions could benefit your organisation, please contact us using our contact form. We would be delighted to discuss how our smart city capabilities can support you.