Ford is leading a research project in the United Kingdom that could see road travel in urban centres become easier and safer thanks to the ability to “foresee traffic incidents” and prevent them from happening.

Ford Mobility has partnered with a group of councils, transport bodies and universities to create a predictive road safety tool that utilises data from connected vehicles, local authorities and roadside sensors to identify high-risk hotspots.

The 18-month project, which has received UK government funding, will collate data from 700 connected passenger and commercial vehicles, plus 100 roadside smart sensors, across Oxfordshire and London.

The data will capture everything from drivers’ brake or accelerator pedal usage, to steering wheel angle, movement patterns of cyclists and pedestrians and any near-miss incidents.

As such, the tool will pinpoint likely locations of road safety incidents, as well as identify possible root causes, allowing cities and councils to take preventative action to address high-risk areas.

Recommendations for possible solutions and improvements could include the introduction of red-light cameras at high-risk intersections, the removal of vegetation to improve visibility or raising the height of of signage, to name a few.

According to Ford, more than 1.3 million people are killed on global roads every year, amounting to around 3700 every day.

“The insights and analysis will be used to further prove and develop the digital road safety algorithm and tool into a scalable, commercial product to benefit cities and citizens around the world,” the manufacturer said in a statement.

“The consortium will also seek to uncover further real-world applications for predictive road safety-related insights.”

Ford is also carrying out similar work in partnership with local authorities in Cologne, Germany, and Valencia, Spain.

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