T0435 Connected Autonomous Plant (CAP) Phase 3

National Highways is looking to set up a contract for provision of services to support us delivering Phase 3 of the Connected and Autonomous Plant (CAP) Project; including a commercial and standards review, specification for designing for construction machines and the development of a virtual testbed.

The aim of this task is to bring supply chain together to collaboratively work with National Highways, industry, academia, i3P (Infrastructure Industry Innovation Partnership), SME's, dedicated working groups, BSI/CEN, trade organisations, specialist information/ technology networks and groups, contractors and consultants to align plant/equipment technology readiness levels with the CAP road map using the newly developed CAP Levels which were delivered by Phase 2.

Detailed reports will be produced which will include, but not be limited to; available technology, underlying reason why technology is not being used, methods for encouraging adoption. The reports will also include looking at best practice outside the UK and if these can be adopted locally.

The findings will stimulate discussion, help us and industry understand techniques and plant available with a proposal to accelerate adoption. This will ultimately provide a safer and more efficient environment for construction and maintenance schemes.

On completion of this phase, future work will likely focus on physical trials and scaling to drive uptake of available CAP technology and accelerate development of future solutions, while capturing evidence and quantification of benefits in real world usage.