The road ahead – Arup ponders the future of driving

Envision a globe cost-free of traffic jams, roadworks, and pollution, where your vehicle drives you wherever you want to go whilst you sit back and relax.

This may well sound like the stuff of dreams, but according to the Future of Highways report from engineering consultancy Arup, this could be specifically the sort of anxiety-free motoring we’ll take pleasure in in years to come.

Driving in a international context

The report appears at how rapid improvement of our cities, along with climate change, dwindling sources and modifications in human behaviour, will affect our roads, cars and driving habits.

At present, far more than half the world’s population of 6 billion lives in cities, with a staggering 172,800 new urban-dwellers joining them each day.

According to Arup, this means that by 2050, about 75% of people will be reside in cities.

Jam tomorrow?

Even though the quantity of automobiles on the road is anticipated to improve by 3% annually until 2030, following that numbers are expected to minimize, with individuals far more probably to hire autos when they want them, rather than purchasing them.

Changing behaviour and growing awareness of the importance of health and fitness will also imply that a lot more folks will, we’re told, turn to walking, cycling and other modes of transport to get about, rather than relying on vehicles.

Charge of the electric automobile brigade!

These that do drive will look for a lot more environmentally-friendly automobiles, so gas-guzzling automobiles will turn out to be an increasingly endangered species. Hardly surprising that the pumps will run dry sooner or later.

Electric vehicles will grow in popularity, with technological developments enabling batteries last longer than they do presently, so drivers won’t be restricted to just a handful of miles just before obtaining to re-charge.

Ditch the pilot

Automobiles will also grow to be driverless, thanks to completely-automated navigation systems, so you can basically get in, programme where you’re going to, and let the car do all the challenging perform for you.

They’ll also be in a position to broadcast and acquire details on site visitors, speed, weather and any safety hazards, adjusting route accordingly.

This improved ‘intelligence’ is down to what Arup describes as the ‘Internet of Things’ – the connection of devices, sensors and machines to the net.

Only connect…

At the moment there are about 1.84 connected devices per particular person on the planet, but by 2020 this is expected to rise to about 6.6 devices per person.

Vehicles will even be able to communicate with each and every other, letting each and every other know about possible hazards as properly as relaying details about their speed and path.

Solar roads

But it’s not only cars which will turn into far more technologically sophisticated in years to come.

Arup’s vision of the future contains sophisticated solar panel road surfaces, which would produce clean and renewable energy. Electric vehicles could be charged as they are driving along, or when they are parked, so you wouldn’t have to plug them in overnight as you do now.

Panel heaters

Solar-panel surfaces would have other rewards too, as they’d contain LED lighting to light the way, as effectively as heating elements to keep roads snow and ice-free.

Drivers would no longer have to fear skidding in freezing situations (but there’d be no excuse to take the day off perform in bad climate either.)

New technologies will develop other possibilities also, for example, such as concrete that makes use of bacteria to heal cracks, therefore reducing the want for repairs and roadworks which snarl up visitors.

Science reality

These developments may possibly all sound as though they belong in a sci-fi movie, but they may happen sooner than you think.

For example, Milton Keynes is currently charging electric buses wirelessly as component of a trial led by Mitsui and Arup.

Arup is also functioning with the Crown Estate and Land Securities to use centres to consolidate goods and deliver them to shops on London’s Regent Street with the ultimate aim of decreasing the quantity of polluting diesel delivery vans.

Whatever happens in the future, it is clear that we need to take action to tackle not only to make driving far more environmentally friendly, but also to minimize the stress on our infrastructure from our increasing population.

The road ahead – Arup ponders the future of driving