The Midlands is fast becoming known as the premier global testbed for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, and we’re proud to support TfWM in the design and delivery of the testing environment.

Stretching across 300km of public roads in Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and the surrounding areas, the Midlands Future Mobility testbed is helping to boost the national and local economy while positioning the region as a centre of excellence.

WSP’s people have contributed their CAV expertise to design a future-ready digitally-enabled testbed, ensure the vast data outputs are optimised to further progress the development of safe and efficient CAV technology alongside other transport services.

Since 2011, we have been part of the National Information Service (NIS) JV, collecting and analysing digital information from across England’s strategic road network to improve its safety and efficiency for customers.

NIS brings together data from sources such as ANPR cameras, vehicles and even weather stations to create a real-time, holistic view of the national road network. We then distribute this information across multiple channels, from radio to roadside signs, to give customers more control over their journey.

This technology enables better journey planning and quicker detection of incidents, allowing action to be taken faster to reduce congestion and improve safety. The service produces over £120m of measured annual financial benefit.

Once a motorway scheme is complete, it’s critical that the performance is monitored to ensure ongoing success and that the scheme is delivering for its customers.

We have worked with Highways England since 2015 to do just this.  By undertaking thorough analysis of performance metrics and combining this with human-led insights from wide-ranging stakeholders, we are able to provide a full view as to how users interface with the scheme.

We have used this to develop efficient and accurate performance reporting approaches that inform continual improvements to the network and help Highways England to optimise the performance of each scheme during the initial six months of operation.

Our Lighting and Energy Solutions team have worked with Hamad International Airport on the terminal expansion scheme to design the external lighting. As well as enhancing safety and security, the carefully considered lighting also mitigates environmental impacts.

The choice of technology and lighting specification are designed to mitigate environmental impacts on the airport’s operations and its surrounding area. Efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology delivers reduced energy consumption and maintenance frequency compared to the existing outdated lighting technology, resulting in a 30% reduction in energy and CO2 emissions and 60% savings in maintenance costs.

Since 2013, we have played a leading role, along with our supply chain partners, in supporting Highways England to improve the safety and efficiency of the strategic A road network through development of new requirements and advice.

The new standard ‘GD 300 Requirements for new and upgraded all-purpose trunk roads (expressways)’ provides requirement and advice for improving, resolving bottlenecks and congestion currently experienced on many all-purpose trunk roads as well as improving safety. As a trusted advisor to Highways England, we have worked with a vast spectrum of stakeholders to define and progress this concept.