Increasingly digital highways: the seventh transport revolution has begun

Autostrade per l'Italia calls it the seventh transport revolution. The impetus for this revolution comes from digital technology. For some time now, digitalisation has been impacting industrial systems, production cycles and our lives, both working and 'civil'. Digitisation applied to the world of transport will precisely give the necessary push to the so-called seventh revolution, according to the contextualisation of Ennio Cascetta, university lecturer, well-known expert in the sector and, among other things, president of Tecne, the engineering company of the Aspi group. After the animal traction (first revolution), after sailing (second revolution), after the wheel (third revolution), after the steam engine (fourth revolution), after the internal combustion engine (fifth revolution), after the container and logistics (sixth revolution), we are now at digitalisation.

Digitisation that, applied to the world of transport, will change the road sector and especially motorways. This is precisely the thesis of the Green Book, produced by Autostrade per l'Italia with Il Sole 24 ore, of which Cascetta is one of the main authors. 'The digitisation of motorway infrastructure,' the paper says, 'is a process that aims to integrate advanced digital technologies into motorways in order to improve their efficiency, safety and overall management.

In part, the potential of digital data management is already evident to anyone driving along a stretch of motorway: Telepass uses digitalisation to implement electronic tolling. Reserved for the operators, however, is the system of sensors and intelligent cameras that collect real-time data on the state of traffic and infrastructure. This data is monitored by control centres and is also used to provide information to travellers. Another case of advanced experimentation is traffic flow and signage management systems. Then there are the high-resolution surveillance cameras, which together with incident detection sensors and integrated alarm systems enable rapid action on the safety front. Finally, the use of the data collected by the sensors to monitor the behaviour of infrastructures makes it possible to monitor the state of bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and more, estimating their lifespan and allowing maintenance to be planned.

But these are just examples of what may yet come: 'The process of digitisation of roads,' the Green Paper states, 'must include the evolution of vehicles up to autonomous driving. We will move towards a fully automated motorway capable of accommodating more vehicles, as flow and speed will be constantly monitored and determined in real time, with regulation of safety distances, elimination of human error, zero accidents, and reduction of emissions'.

But autonomous and automated driving, governed by the system, is only one of many possible applications. Digitalisation, the Green Paper states, will impact on five areas: infrastructure, security, mobility and logistics, energy and user services. For each area, it will be possible to develop various systems and solutions, from weighing systems to power flow management for recharging electric vehicles, from tariff differentiation by user type to journey planning and service booking. The only limit, it seems, is imagination (and the resources to invest).