Highways England has announced it is to trial new “in-vehicle signage” systems which could one day replace traditional road signs and motorway gantries.
The trial will see “information that would traditionally be shown on roadside signs, such as speed limits” sent over the air to screens inside cars.
Highways England hope the move will improve safety, and could ultimately lead to some overhead motorway gantries being removed.
The technology could also warn drivers of upcoming roadworks.
The system will make use of 5G cables running down the central reservation of the A2/M2 between London and Dover.
The pilot scheme will only work with specially-equipped test vehicles but future projects could enable car infotainment screens to display the information.
The RAC welcomes enhanced driver information but has expressed some reservations about the trial.
Steve Gooding of the RAC Foundation said: “While having still better, faster real-time journey information displayed in-vehicle is a good thing, we’re a long way from having technology in every vehicle that completely replaces the reassurance we get from having a permanent sign.”
