Organisation: RAC Foundation
Date of Publication: July 2023
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre: 1 August 2023
The RAC Foundation report ‘Driven by Information’, published in September 2020, sought to establish all the elements needed to achieve the benefits offered by the flow of data from and to increasingly ‘connected’ vehicles, in practice and at scale.
It did this by revealing gaps in service delivery and by proposing quick fixes to address them. The purpose of this update is to look at how matters have moved on in nearly three years and, specifically, to focus on the issue of funding.
In this context, ‘connected’ vehicles means any type or age of vehicle or person that can generate, transmit and receive/process data. Connection can be with other road users and vehicles, with infrastructure, and with vehicle manufacturers, data providers, insurers and services like mapping and satnav companies, generally over existing cellular networks (e.g., via smartphone or in-vehicle equipment).
Data generated by or about a vehicle might include road condition (e.g., from detecting poor grip), traffic conditions (from vehicle speed and location) and about driver behaviour (such as aggressive acceleration and rapid braking). Data transmitted into the vehicle is generally aimed at informing the road user’s decisions (e.g., via satellite navigation, or ‘satnav’, services) and, in due course, is set to play a fundamental part in enabling highly automated systems.
Access the full report via the RAC Foundation website: