Highways Voices: Talking Roads and Transport Technology innovation – Details, episodes & analysis

Highways Voices returns after its summer break with an interview recorded at the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in Nottingham.

Andrew Caleya Chetty is our guest, CEO and Founder of Starling Technologies, talking about its innovative approach to pedestrian safety using computer vision and machine learning.

He explains how Starling's system, which can handle saturated pavements and different user types, has received positive feedback from UK and international authorities. The company's technology, which can platoon pedestrians to improve efficiency, also captures detailed behavioural data.

He's joined by Simon Rogers, Starling's sales lead, who discusses the business cases for their product, including financial, carbon, and safety benefits.

You'll also hear how Starling aims to expand globally, with installations in various countries and plans to showcase their solutions at the ITS World Congress in Dubai.

As Highways Voices reaches its summer break, we finish this series of podcasts with a look ahead to two of the key events for our industry in the autumn.

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Organiser of the JCT Traffic Signals Symposium John Nightingale joins us first to discuss the popular event, and how it's grown with ever more exhibitors and attendees, and how the programme of learned papers was completed earlier than ever, while the social events are a vital part, too.

He'll also hint at a fascinating-sounding session about security which will only be available to those in the room at Nottingham Trent University during the event on the 11 and 12 September.

After John, Claudia Davidson - Head of Content and Strategic Partnerships at Highways UK owner Terrapin - talks about the growing popularity of this event at the NEC on 16 and 17 October.

She discusses the ministerial visits and tours, and how many leading elected officials from across the country are attending. She also looks at some of the key subjects being discussed, new theatres and how to navigate the event and get the most out of it.

On top of that, you'll hear news from the Highways News website, and from our podcast partners LCRIG, the TTF, ADEPT and ITS UK, as well as why Transport for Greater Manchester wins "Adrian's Accolade".

"Don't try and talk to the politicians - the truth is actually having good relations with... politicians will have very little impact on the actual decisions government takes," explains former Transport Secretary Chris Grayling on this week's Highways Voices.

He joined an ITS UK meeting last week and was interviewed by Highways Voices host Paul Hutton, who recorded the chat for you to feature on this week's podcast.

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Mr Grayling was asked how to influence policy, and pointed out what ministers don't do: "Ministers have no involvement in procurement, they have little involvement in decisions about technology," he said. "A recommendation come from a civil servant to say we've evaluated these three things - we need this change the regulations in order to make that happen, do you agree? But that will come from the civil service, I will come from expert panels set up to look at individual issues. It may come from local authority pressure, it may come from outside bodies, like the RAC and the AA. Actually, the last people you want to be focusing all your time and effort on is politicians, because government doesn't work like that."

In the conversation, Mr Grayling discusses his past before parliament, his experience in the role and key issues around smart motorways and road safety and public opinion, plus the "elephant in the room" - Road User Charging. He also explained how, when you're Secretary of State, you can expect to be blamed for things that are not your fault.

"I don't think we're going to wake up one morning and have a government white paper saying we're going to introduce a pay per mile on every stretch of road in the UK," he said. "What I do think is we're going to see more... paid for miles for lorries on motorways, for example, it may mean pay per mile in and around urban areas. I think that the Treasury is going to have a deep desire to introduce road user charging in order to offset the loss of revenue from electric vehicles, but I'm not convinced it's going to get its way anytime soon."

You'll also hear the latest from our pages on Highways News, plus reaction to the Transport Technology Forum's conference, the latest from Live Labs 2, ITS UK's briefing for newly-elected politicians, and a new invention to be shown off at this year's LCRIG Innovation and Learning Festival.

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"When we started designing our new modern mobility management system... we started by interviewing more than 400 cities globally," explains the new SWARCO CEO Michael Schuch on this week's Highways Voices podcast. "And what we learned was actually the most critical topics that they have are throughout the same."

In the interview Mr Schuch outlines those challenges which fall into ten problem statements including predictable issues such as congestion and air quality along with other global problems such as budget constraints and interoperability.

The interview features discussions on procurement, Net Zero, collaboration and support for start-ups, and international expansion as well as connected vehicles.

"We can demonstrate proof of concept of those seeking solutions with connectivity with communication, and everything between vehicles and infrastructure and vice versa," Mr Schuch says. "Now, it's about the first deployments and the focus about the quality of the service and the scalability of the service, and there is really the question, who is investing that that money? What are the business cases that really make this a wheel that starts spinning?"

Find out his thoughts on this week's Highways Voices, where you'll also hear news from podcast partners ADEPT, LCRIG, Transport Technology Forum and ITS (UK) plus why Telford and Wrekin wins this week's "Adrian's Accolade".

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Links:

LCRIG website

ITS (UK) Website

Details of TTF Conference

Adept website

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This week's Highways Voices analyses how a refresh of the way software is delivering the most efficient transport network based on existing roadside hardware.

Paul Campion of TRL discusses the best way to manage traffic in towns and cities using a refresh of what we've always known as SCOOT and MOVA traffic management in what is now called Unified Traffic Control.

"It's incredibly important for the cities to have the confidence that their massive installed base of equipment can continue to be used," he explains. "No one wants to dig up the roads in order to put in some new software. So we have to respect that legacy, respect the fact that all these cities, and their citizens depend on this software and have been doing for many years, but take it forward in quite a different and we think, very valuable way."

The conversation also talks about how funding such upgrades could be justified if both the environmental and road safety aspects were considered holistically. "That's quite difficult to do in governmental budgeting, but you know what the challenges like decarbonisation challenges like levelling up, I think are going to require us to do some of these things, which is simultaneously creative, innovative, look like they're really difficult and the same time common bloomin' sense," he adds.

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The podcast also hears the latest news from Highways Voices partners the Transport Technology Forum, ITS (UK), ADEPT and LCRIG.

You'll hear how LCRIG has revealed more details about its upcoming Innovation Festival. The event will be a first of its kind for the highways sector – with a number of local authorities already committed to making their road networks available for trials along with funding for qualifying innovators who participate in the event.

The new event, which will take place from 6-7 July at Newark Showground, has been established to ‘make the case for innovation’ and will bring together local authorities, central government, the supply chain, associations and academia.

Exhibitors are able to request to be included as a qualifying innovator to be eligible for innovation funding and/or trials and the Infrastructure Innovation Board and delegates will judge the qualifying innovations.

Councils including NY Highways, Blackpool Council and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council are making their networks available for innovation trials.

LCRIG is inviting organisations to attend and exhibit at the Innovation Festival with a contribution from all exhibitors being put towards the LCRIG ‘Steve Berry – Think Exceptional’ Innovation Fund – a pot of money that will be used to help facilitate and speed up innovation...

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"Two or three years ago people thought we were a little bit nuts and a bit sort of fringy - now, actually, people are properly on board and are wanting to come and have a conversation with us - we've almost become the cool kids."

That's the experience of this week's main guest on Highways Voices, Chris Pateman-Jones who is CEO of the EV chargepoint provider Connected Kerb.

He discusses how the EV charging network will come about in the next eight years, and what challenges there are, but that he is confident it can be delivered. "When you think of the fibre deployment that's taken place across the UK," he says, "This isn't impossible, there is huge opportunity here."

In the chat with Highways Voices presenter Paul Hutton, he discusses how to deliver a socially equitable charging network, the different sorts of chargers and locations and why chargepoint operators should have the opportunity for long contracts with local authorities.

They also talk about educating the public to understand EVs, "I think there is real need for centralised campaigns to really help people to understand what the transition is like, from a non commercial perspective," he says, "Almost like during the 1980s with the Buckle Up campaign. That's the sort of thing that needs to be done here to really help people to understand what's going on."

In the podcast you also hear news from podcasts partners LCRIG, ADEPT, ITS (UK) and the Transport Technology Forum and find out why Clearview Intelligence wins Adrian Tatum's "Adrian's Accolade" this week.

Follow Highways News on Twitter, LinkedIn and subscribe to our daily newsletter here.

Links:

LCRIG website

ITS (UK) Website

Details of TTF Conference

Adept website

Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!

In this Highways Voices we return to Amsterdam for more conversation from the exhibition floor of the huge Intertraffic event.

We talk to the CEO of Yunex, Marcus Schlitt about the pace of change in the newly-branded company and then CEO Alex Torday, the new CEO of Yunex's subsidiary Aimsun detailing fixing traffic jams before they happen.

We also introduce Smartmicro… a company known in the UK through its distributor Smart Video and Sensing, who’re doing interesting things with detection, as founder Ralph Mende explains, while on the huge Kapsch stand we talk next-generation connectivity with VP of Demand Management Michael Ganser before rounding up the show with Michael Tooker, an SVP with Redflex's new owners Verra Mobility.

On top of that we hear news from our partners,

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Links:

LCRIG website

ITS (UK) Website

Details of TTF Conference

ADEPT press release

ADEPT White Paper

ADEPT Blogs

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This week's Highways Voices comes from the huge Intertraffic event in Amsterdam.

In this podcast, where we scratch the surface of the event you can hear Paul Hutton talk to two CEOs, Michael Schuch of SWARCO and TRL's Paul Campion, plus Ian Hind of AGD Systems and the winners of the Intertraffic Awards.

You'll also hear from organiser Carola Jansen-Young plus, of course, our partner news from LCRIG, TTF, ADEPT and ITS (UK) and the latest news from Highways News HQ with Adrian Tatum.

Follow Highways News on Twitter, LinkedIn and subscribe to our daily newsletter here.

Links:

ADEPT website

LCRIG website

ITS (UK) Website

Details of TTF Conference

Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!

“The shortfall and the backlog continue to rise,” Asphalt Industry Alliance CEO Rick Green tells this week’s Highways Voices podcast, as he reviews the 2022 ALARM survey. “Hard working local authority engineers are having to make difficult choices. They've got a statutory obligation to keep local roads safe, but they haven't got enough money to do it with.”

This year’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance research, known as the ALARM survey has found that the cost of the backlog of carriageway repairs to fix local roads in England and Wales has reached £12.64 billion, compounded by increased costs caused by rising inflation. This is up from £10.24 billion last year, and despite an increase in average highway maintenance budgets of four per cent, the proportion being invested in the carriageway itself is down and the reported backlog of carriageway repairs has increased by almost a quarter on last year’s figure to £61,700 for every mile of local road in England and Wales.

“It's difficult to get local authority highway funding to the top of the agenda,” Mr Green tells Highways News co-owner Adrian Tatum. “But we continue to try and continue to press our case and point out that local modes are so important, every journey starts or ends on a local mode, and they’re falling to bits.”

In the podcast you’ll hear the challenges faced by Local Authorities and how new techniques and technologies may not be getting the cut-through because of funding challenges. “I suppose what we're trying to do is shine a light on it as best we possibly can,” Mr Green concludes.

In the podcast you’ll also hear news from our partners including about the winner of the ITS (UK) Apprentice Essay competition, a new Chair for ADEPT’s Transport and Connectivity Board, LCRIG’s meeting with the Department for Transport and fully-funded places available at the Transport Technology Forum Annual Conference in Liverpool this May. Plus, of course, who wins this week’s “Adrian’s Accolade” and a summary of some of the many stories on the Highways News website.

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Links:

ADEPT website

LCRIG website

ITS (UK) Essay Winner entry

Subscribe to Highways Voices free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or Pocket Casts and never miss an episode!

One of the most pressing issues faced by local highways authorities is consistent carbon measurement and reporting, and this is tackled this week on Highways Voices.

The main guest is Simon Wilson of Proving Services, who is leading the work with the Future Highways Research Group for Adept, and has already launched a comprehensive guidance document for Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.

"A key aspect of any strategy for carbon reduction is going to be carbon measurement.," he explains. "Because otherwise, how can you ever monitor your progress?

But he explains there is a problem in the sector, "At the moment, there is a serious degree of fragmentation around how things are measured, how things are consolidated how things are calculated, and therefore what each organisation's carbon position currently is."

Find out how he's solving it, and why it is so important, on this week's Highways Voices.

You'll also hear news of ADEPT's new policy position on speed management, about the Manual for Smart Streets launch next Monday, ITS (UK)'s Inclusive Mobility Forum to mark Disabled Access Day and LCRIG's webinar on "Practical Steps on the journey to Net Zero."

We'll also hear Adrian Tatum announce this week's "Adrian's Accolade" plus a round-up of the week's news.

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Partner links:

Darren Capes's blog post.

ADEPT website

LCRIG website

ITS (UK) YouTube channel