After two years of design, development, and testing, VECTA has been released to the market and is already proving itself a valuable platform for hazardous object detection and advanced traffic analytics.

In a recent trial that spanned 11 months, four VECTA towers were deployed along approximately 1km of a live UK motorway in parallel with a remote CCTV monitoring service, so automated detection could be compared with operator-led monitoring on genuine events rather than simulated scenarios. This approach allowed Roadside Technologies to assess not only system performance, but also how intelligent monitoring can complement existing operational processes and improve situational awareness.

The trial proved that VECTA detects, classifies, and alerts on roadworks hazards within the same second. Against 98% of comparative incidents, VECTA detected and raised automated alerts 98% faster than standard monitoring services. Validated against a sample of CCTV recordings of 1,500 vehicles, VECTA’s vehicle classification and counting accuracy remained high in low light, rain and poor weather – scoring 100% daytime vehicle classification accuracy, 98% night-time vehicle classification accuracy, and 97% vehicle counting accuracy.

Throughout the trial, the roadworks monitoring database generated by VECTA collected over 473 million “messages” between the four towers – points of data that included 166,000 vehicle detections, approximately 864,047 MQTT messages per tower, per day, and over 3.5 million unique object IDs within a single month. This database enabled extensive assessment of coverage performance, object classification, work-zone incursions, wrong-way driving events, queue formation, and automated alerting performance – all within a live roadworks environment.

Chris Moseley, Managing Director said, “This trial gave us the opportunity to prove VECTA in a live motorway environment, against genuine operational events and challenging weather conditions. The results demonstrate how intelligent, automated detection can give operators earlier awareness of developing hazards while complementing the CCTV systems and operational processes they already rely on. It is an important milestone for VECTA and for our ambition to help make roadworks safer and better informed.”

A supplement to traditional CCTV rather than replacement, VECTA’s intelligent monitoring can move roadworks from reactive observation to proactive awareness, giving operators faster, better-informed decisions. Built into one platform, operators can access live CCTV feeds, manage and respond to alerts, export detailed reports, and access in-depth analytics.

Having started life through the National Highways Hazard Protection on Roads Accelerator, a programme delivered by Connected Places Catapult, the VECTA system uses LiDAR in combination with edge AI perception software and a fusion engine to maintain a continuously updated digital twin of the road, identifying hazards automatically. This innovative technology is the subject of a pending patent application.

These alert types include stopped vehicles, congestion & queues, work-zone entry, cone-line incursions, wrong-way driving, pedestrian presence and other hazardous objects. On each alert, VECTA’s PTZ camera automatically turns to focus on the area of the incident so an operator can verify it and decide the response; human judgement stays in the loop.

Gary Bray, Commercial Director said, “VECTA turns complex roadside data into clear, actionable information. By combining automated alerts, live CCTV, reporting and traffic analytics within a single platform, it enables customers to understand what is happening across a work zone and respond more quickly. Having now demonstrated that capability on a live UK motorway, we are ready to work with highways partners to apply VECTA across a wider range of safety and operational challenges.”

Having proven its capabilities on the road, Roadside Technologies are already working on planned enhancements for VECTA in order to further expand the system’s versatility and ease of use for operators.

VECTA will be available for demonstration at Highways UK 2026, NEC Birmingham, on 14-15 October, where attendees can try the VECTA Cloud system themselves, as well as get a glimpse of a brand-new integration with VMS.

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