Satnavs and Google Maps to be up to date in readiness for driverless vehicles | Transport coverage

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Satnavs and Google Maps will quickly embrace stay information on street closures, parking restrictions and short-term pace limits in England below a UK authorities scheme aimed to ease drivers’ ache and pave the way in which for driverless vehicles.

Councils shall be ordered to digitise all site visitors regulation orders (TROs), short-term site visitors measures comparable to short-term pace limits or street closures.

Many TROs are stored on paper and never up to date robotically on digital programs, which means they’re typically lacking from satnav programs.

On Monday, the roads minister, Man Opperman, will announce that the information shall be uploaded to a central database and made freely obtainable on-line for satnavs and mapping providers. It should additionally embrace the situation of parking areas.

A spokesperson for the Division for Transport stated digitising TROs would “even be essential for guaranteeing autonomous automobiles can depend on correct and up-to-date info in order that they’ll function safely as soon as they begin driving on British roads”.

The transfer is a part of the federal government’s plan for drivers, which purports to make use of £8.3bn of funding initially earmarked for HS2. Final yr, Rishi Sunak cancelled the northern leg of the high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Manchester.

Sunak’s administration has sought to current itself as being “on the facet of motorists” – a marked distinction from Boris Johnson’s authorities, which was enthusiastically professional strolling and biking.

Ministers determined to prioritise driving over energetic journey due to worries amongst ministers about “15-minute cities”, paperwork seen by the Guardian present.

Opperman stated: “This authorities is on the facet of drivers, which is why we’re making travelling by street a lot simpler. Everybody is aware of the frustrations of being despatched down a closed street by your satnav, so by going digital with our site visitors info we’re ensuring that drivers have the very newest journey info to depend on.”

There are 50 million individuals with a driving licence in Britain, driving about 40m licensed automobile. Automobiles are the preferred mode of non-public journey, comprising 58% of journeys in 2022 and 78% of distance travelled.

The DfT stated the database must be up and working by 2025.

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