SMART HIGHWAY MARKET ANALYSIS

The global smart highway market size was valued at USD 43.23 million in 2021 and is anticipated to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2% from 2022 to 2030. The global smart highway market is driven by the increasing number of vehicles on the road, the rise in road traffic injuries, and the international trade. The rise in the number of vehicles on the road, increasing traffic-related injuries, and increased international trade along with the demand for better highways, the need to reduce traffic congestion, and governmental initiatives are driving the market. Moreover, apart from the development of smart highways, the market is expected to be driven by smart city projects. 

Global Smart Highway Market: Regional Insights

The global smart highway market is geographically divided into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.

North America among regions, is expected to dominate the global smart highway market during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to numerous companies focusing on production of intelligent road tools in countries such as Canada and the U.S. As road safety is of high value in these countries, it opens up several growth opportunities for players functioning in smart road industry in this region. Thus, the market is likely to witness strong growth in the North America region.

Furthermore, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness significant growth in the global smart highway market over the forecast period due to increasing urbanization and industrialization in emerging countries of Asia Pacific region. As per the UN-Habitat, China and India alone are expected to contribute more than 239 and 404 million urban dwellers respectively in the Asia Pacific region to the global urban population. Hence, Asia Pacific is expected to witness robust growth in the market.

Figure 1: Global Smart Highway Market Share (%), By Region, 2021

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Global Smart Highway Market Drivers:

Rise in number of highway and other infrastructure projects is expected to propel growth of the global smart highway market over the forecast period. Facilitating the movement of goods and people with safety, sustainability, and cost-efficiently is a main goal of a highway. Transportation system across the globe is challenged by various factors such as congestion, climate change, and major injuries, deteriorating facilities, and unequal economic opportunity. As per the data of Texas A&M Transportation Institute, in 2020, the congestion cost for the economy of the U.S. is US$ 101 billion.

Furthermore, increasing requirement of efficient and safe transportation is also expected to augment growth of the global smart highway market over the forecast period. As the number of road accidents is growing around the world, the demand for intelligent transportation management systems is increasing. Despite the low traffic during pandemic in 2020, according to the estimates of NHTSA road accidents caused 38, 680 deaths around the globe. Thus, need for safe as well as efficient transportation continues to grow globally.

Global Smart Highway Market Opportunities:

Growing number of highway infrastructures is expected to offer growth opportunities in the global smart highway market over the forecast period. Due to highway infrastructure economy can be impacted in various ways and most of the highways are associated with boosting the mobility. With highway infrastructures, manufacturers can reach market without any issues, it offers wider range of input choices to suppliers, and growth the size of market reach for manufacturers. Thus, increase in the number of highway infrastructure is creating opportunities for market players in the global smart highway market.

Furthermore, increasing awareness regarding advantages of smart highways is likely to create growth opportunities for the market during the forecast period. Smart highways offer various benefits such as reduction of traffic congestion, improvement in mass transit systems, reduced accidents on the roads, reduced diving time, and improvement in traveler safety. Smart highways or smart roads can decrease time of the traveler and pollution levels on the roads. The awareness about these benefits of smart highways is leading to investment in smart highway projects and their adoption. This further is creating growth opportunities in the market.

Global Smart Highway Market Trends:

Increasing adoption of smart highway is a growing trend in the global smart highway market over the forecast period. The number of highway roads using technological tools for interacting with the environment and offer efficient and safe transportation is increasing. These tools combine physical infrastructure such as solar panels, sensors with software infrastructure, big data and IoT. Several smart roads are integrated with solutions that can detect pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles enabling safe riding practices. Thus, the growing trend of smart highway adoption is driving the market growth.

Furthermore, growing adoption of intelligent traffic systems (ITSs) is another trend in the global smart highway market, which is driving the market growth. ITSs are evolving with time and internet of things and Artificial intelligence are likely to play a major role in intelligent traffic systems. Video analytics based on AI helps to maintain safety of the road as it can detect vehicles or debris traveling in the wrong lane. Moreover, ITSs can be promising tools for optimizing usage of road and reducing congestion.

Global Smart Highway Market Restraints:

High capital requirement for smart highway projects is one of the factors expected to propel growth of the global smart highway market over the forecast period. According to the estimates of Integrated Roadways, the cost of smart roads can be nearly US$ 4 million per 1.6 km lane or twice of the cost required for traditional roads. Thus, implementation of these technologies of complex as well as extensive networks and their long term maintenance is likely to pose a huge challenge in various economies. Thus, this factor is likely limit growth of the market in the future.

Lack of proper infrastructure support in emerging countries is another factor expected to obstruct growth of the global smart highway market over the forecast period. Many economies around the world possess the required capital for smart highway projects; however, have no infrastructural support for smart highway projects. For smart infrastructure, 5G network, internet connectivity, and trained workforce for data analysis and monitoring are important. Several countries lack these resources due to which, the adoption of smart highway is affected, and this further impacts the market growth.

Figure 2: Global Smart Highway Market Share (%), By Product Technology, 2021

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Global Smart Highway Market Segmentation:

The global smart highway market report is segmented into Product Technology and Geography.

Based on Product Technology, the market is segmented into Smart Transport Management Systems, Smart Traffic Management Systems, Monitoring Systems, and Services. Out of which, Smart Transport Management Systems is expected to dominate the global market over the forecast period and this is attributed to the growing adoption of STMS around the world. This system shows alarms and prediction on light-emitting diode panels on the roadways. Thus, with such benefits adoption of smart transport management systems is increasing, and driving growth of the segment.

Smart Traffic Management Systems segment is also expected to witness significant growth in the near future and this is owing to the rise in integration of smart traffic management system into highways and roadways for cost-effective and rapid improvements in traffic flow and safety on the roads.

Global Smart Highway Market: Key Developments

In June 2021, Cisco introduced a novel portfolio of Catalyst industrial routers for extending the smart network power to edge with security, scalability, and flexibility required for digitalization and IoT success.

In December 2020, Kapsch received a contract of implementation of an electronic toll collection system for the MRO Paquete Noreste highways in the northeastern region of Mexico. This highway is one the busiest network of the country, and the SmartTOLL solution of Kapsch is likely to update the system used currently to over 350 km with 64 lanes and 12 plazas.

Global Smart Highway Market: Key Companies Insights

The global smart highway market is highly competitive. This is attributed to continuous launch of new technologies due to ongoing R &D and efforts by value chain participants. Moreover, key players are adopting various business growth strategies in order to expand their presence on regional as well as global basis.

Some of the key players in the global smart highway market are Xerox Corporation, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (Nokia Corporation), Siemens AG, Cisco Systems Inc., Schneider Electric SE, IBM Corporation, LG CNS Co. Ltd (LG Electronics Inc.), Indra Sistemas SA, Kapsch AG, Infineon Technologies AG, and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

*Definition:

A smart highway is a high-tech road system that improves the performance of connected and autonomous vehicles. It can monitor traffic, road conditions, and speeds. It can also help manage traffic lights and street lighting. With these capabilities, smart roads are able to make improvements to existing systems.