For generations, the relationship between public infrastructure and society has been foundational to all aspects of life. Motorways, local roads, junctions, and traffic signals were designed, built and maintained as shared resources, investments made by the many for the benefit of all. Yet as we enter the era of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), the steady shift to electrification of the fleet away from internal combustion engines, smart mobility platforms, and logistics automation, we are witnessing in real time a subtle but profound transformation. Our roads are evolving beyond the pathways for vehicles and becoming digital platforms that generate tremendous value which more often that not finds it way to private enterprise and not the benefit of the public purse.
The Renaissance of Public Roads as Digital Innovation Spaces
Today’s roads, funded by taxpayers and planned by public authorities, serve as the essential foundation for a wide range of technological innovation. From self-driving vehicles gathering all of the data discussed previously through to on demand ride services producing continuous streams of journey information, the value derived from activity on public roads increasingly flows to private actors.
The UK has positioned itself at the forefront of this evolution, with pioneering cities like Manchester, Milton Keynes, Oxford and London (home of TRL’s Smart Mobility Living Lab – the world’s most advance Urban test bed) leading the way as centres of excellence for mobility innovation. These forward-thinking cities have established themselves as vital testing grounds through government-supported trials of connected vehicle technologies. Oxford’s Smart Corridor and Milton Keynes’ MK initiative exemplify how thoughtfully designed public-private partnerships can create spaces for technological advancement while maintaining public oversight.
These initiatives, supported by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), a joint unit of the Department for Transport and Department for Business and Trade, have been instrumental in establishing the UK’s competitive position in global CAV development. They strategy to create, develop and grow innovation ecosystems that can deliver economic growth, improved sustainability, and enhanced urban mobility and progressing.
However, despite these promising initiatives, there remains a growing tension between who invests in road infrastructure and who benefits from the value from its new digital layer.
Investment, Innovation and Infrastructure Access
The UK government providing substantial financial and regulatory support to nurture innovation in connected mobility. The Zenzic CAM Test-bed UK programme stands as a prime example. This as a coordinated national approach designed to position the UK as a world leader in autonomous mobility by offering purpose-built infrastructure, standardised data-sharing environments, and sophisticated simulation facilities.
The test sites forming part of Test-bed UK represent the necessary investments in future mobility. Innovation requires public support and vision. Yet they also prompt us to consider two critical questions:
- To what extent is this innovation designed to serve the public interest? and
- When the infrastructure supporting these trials is funded through public investment, are the returns be that financial, social, or environmental, flowing back adequately into the public realm and to UK PLC?
Meanwhile, on demand ride platforms and delivery services often operate with minimal direct investment in physical infrastructure, yet exert significant influence over how roads are used. Local authorities across the UK, even in tech-forward regions, have sometimes struggled to obtain even basic operational data from these platforms, limiting their ability to plan effectively or address impacts such as congestion, noise and air pollution.
The Challenge of Value Capture in Public Space
Mobility platforms fundamentally depend on access to public roads, kerbside space, and traffic systems. Unlike public transport or locally operated shared mobility schemes, the data and profits generated by private platforms typically remain within corporate boundaries and to in the creation of “value” for the shareholder. This raises important questions about value capture while public infrastructure and continued investment underpins these business models, the economic value they generate rarely returns proportionally to the communities hosting them.
This disconnect becomes particularly apparent in the logistics sector. Delivery vehicles operating for Luxemburg based international e-commerce retailers or courier platforms now comprise a significant portion of urban traffic. Local authorities often bear the costs in terms of road maintenance, emissions management, and traffic congestion, yet frequently lack adequate mechanisms to implement equitable access or require meaningful data sharing from these commercial actors.
Without formal frameworks for returning appropriate value to the public, whether through data, taxation, or shared infrastructure development there is a real risk of mobility becoming a space of extractive logic: value flows outward, with insufficient reciprocal benefit.
The Challenge of Structural Dependence
As transport and logistics systems become increasingly digitised and integrated with proprietary platforms, public bodies may find themselves dependent on privately owned technologies, standards, and data systems. This situation introduces potential risks around vendor lock-in, diminished institutional knowledge, and reduced public sector bargaining power.
There is also the possibility that public policy becomes increasingly shaped by the technology or commercial priorities of dominant private firms. The algorithms controlling ride allocation and routing embody specific values and optimisation goals, typically aligned with profit maximisation rather than equity of access or environmental concerns.
This growing dependency creates tension with the UK government’s broader vision for transport as a strategic sector essential to national wellbeing.
Transport as a Strategic Public Service
Going all the way back to the beginning, transport represents far more than a mere service, it functions as a fundamental enabler of economic opportunity, social inclusion, and environmental progress. The UK government has recognised this in several strategic frameworks, including the Net Zero Strategy, Industrial Strategy, and Levelling Up White Paper. These policies position transport as foundational to delivering clean growth, reducing regional inequality, and enhancing quality of life for all residents. Against this backdrop, the question becomes increasingly urgent: how should transport infrastructure be governed in a digital age?
If public roads serve as the foundation for commercial data generation, what reciprocal obligations should companies have to the communities they operate within? If autonomous vehicles, mobility services, or logistics providers benefit from road infrastructure, kerb access, or data-driven routing, shouldn’t the systems managing those interactions be transparent, standardised, and publicly accountable?
Rebalancing the Relationship
Rather than resisting innovation, the objective should be to rebalance the relationship between public infrastructure and private enterprise. This might include:
- Establishing data commons agreements as a condition for accessing publicly funded infrastructure, ensuring that mobility data serves both commercial and community needs.
- Ensuring that mobility trials deliver measurable public outcomes, such as improvements in accessibility, emissions reduction, or service equity with clear mechanisms for assessment and accountability.
- Developing robust local digital infrastructure strategies to protect against vendor lock-in and ensure cities retain appropriate control over mobility systems.
- Enabling thoughtful value capture mechanisms such as dynamic kerb pricing or delivery management systems, where appropriate to local contexts.
- Creating innovation frameworks that explicitly balance commercial opportunity with public benefit, building on the successful models pioneered in places like Manchester, Oxford and Milton Keynes.
This approach is not intended to impede progress—rather, it aims to ensure that public benefit advances in tandem with private innovation and profit.
Conclusion
Public roads represent more than mere conduits for vehicles. They are civic spaces, shaped by collective investment and essential to daily life. As these spaces become increasingly digitised, they are also becoming commercialised, used to extract and monetise data in ways often invisible to the public.
If we allow this transformation to continue without thoughtful governance, we risk creating a mobility future where infrastructure costs remain public, while benefits flow disproportionately to private interests.
The challenge before us is to reaffirm the value of public space, public governance, and public benefit in the digital mobility age—while still embracing the innovation that forward-looking cities have demonstrated can thrive within a balanced public-private framework. The beacons, the lighthouses they represent risk being dimmed by commercial gain.
Next in the series: “The New Oil? The Hidden Value of Vehicle Data” will explore the diverse types and enormous value of data generated by modern vehicles—and examine who stands to profit from this new resource.
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Milton Keynes Council. (2018). “Mobility Strategy for Milton Keynes 2018-2036: Transport Mobility and Innovations.” Retrieved from Milton Keynes Council website.
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