FTA seminar to tackle future of lorry-friendly sat-navs

Leading industry body the Freight Transport Association (FTA) will be tackling the thorny issue of sat-navs, among other industry-related subjects, at its upcoming Urban Logistics Conference on 17 March.

The Conference, which is in its third year, will cover topics such as road pricing, the Freight Operator Recognition Scheme, road safety and e-logistics. It is being chaired by Andrew Forster, editor of Local Transport Today, and will include a panel of experts (including TomTom’s Jeremy Gould), who will take questions from the floor on the subject of satellite navigation systems and their impact on rural roads.

James Firth, FTA's sat-nav expert, said: “The FTA issued a challenge to industry to produce a sat-nav unit fit for commercial vehicle use and we are closer than ever to seeing its realisation. It is good to see that industry has taken our concerns seriously and this conference will address this divisive issue head on.”

The FTA is an advocate of better satellite navigation units in commercial vehicles and has consulted with map set providers and sat-nav companies about how freight can be directed more safely using this technology.

Firth continued: “The FTA has long-since contended that the issue of sat-navs and their implications for our rural roads in particular goes far beyond measuring bridge height and weight restrictions. We hope to see units which lend a greater bias to major roads and, further down the line, offer preferred freight routes as identified by local authorities.”

The FTA has advocated specialist sat-nav units for commercial vehicles almost since their inception and is working with industry and local authorities to facilitate a unit which will join up the UK map with preferred freight routes.