Autonomous plant system to be unveiled
25 March 2022
National Highways, the new identity of Highways England, will unveil a new industry-wide scoring system for Connected and Autonomous Plant (CAP) to construction professionals at the Futureworx event being held on 30 and 31 March.
The standardised system is the latest development in the CAP Roadmap launched by National Highways and i3P jointly in June 2020 which identified challenges in making automation commonplace construction by 2035.
The CAP concept refers to construction plant that is connected to its environment through sensors or wireless transfer of data between a remote operator while the autonomy element refers to aspects of the vehicle’s operation and also movement around a site.
The new system offers a standardised scoring system that enables plant and machinery to be scored according to its level of automation.
The new CAP levels will establish a common language to enable connected and autonomous plant to be specified and deployed on construction schemes. This is designed to allow National Highways and similar clients to communicate clear expectations to suppliers, and let manufacturers describe the capability of their products using the same platform.
National Highways Head of Innovation Annette Pass said: “Connected and autonomous plant offers a real opportunity to revolutionise the construction sector by making work safer, quicker and brings significant benefits for the environment.
“CAP has the potential to improve productivity by more than £200bn by 2040 in the construction sector and we are committed to making it standard industry practice.”
An example of currently available technology is Intelligent Machine Control which guides excavators to dig to precisely the right level and profile, meaning more efficient and easier working for machine operators. In future, the operator may not need to be in the vehicle and could even control it from the other side of the world, its developers say.
Futureworx is being held at the East of England Arena in Peterborough.
● Pictured is a Pedestrian Detection Camera system developed by FTC Group which will be displayed at the event.
For more Site-Eco stories click here.
