Road safety technology company Road Angel has secured six-figure, first-of-a-kind rail innovation funding through Innovate UK to develop a new early warning system designed to help lorry and fleet drivers avoid low-bridge strikes.
The project will see warning technology installed directly on bridges at risk of being struck, triggering alerts to drivers inside the cab via a dedicated and free new Road Angel app, purely for trucks, providing a last-line warning before a costly and potentially dangerous impact occurs.
Bridge strikes remain one of the most common and disruptive incidents involving HGVs and high-sided vehicles, often caused by incorrect routing, reliance on unsuitable sat navs or unfamiliar roads. For fleet operators, the consequences can include vehicle damage, driver injury, insurance claims, missed deliveries and reputational harm.
Road Angel’s system uses low-power Bluetooth beacon technology mounted on bridges, paired with in-cab alerts delivered through dashcams and mobile technology. Crucially, it does not rely on GPS accuracy, mobile data connectivity, gantries, grid power or specialist in-cab hardware, making it a scalable solution for widespread deployment.
The project is being delivered within the wider Road Angel group, with the Innovate UK funding awarded to a group technology entity supporting development of the bridge-mounted alert system that will integrate with Road Angel’s in-cab safety technology.
Road Angel’s Gary Digva, said:
“Every bridge strike is preventable but only if the driver gets the warning at the right moment. There are also the potential challenges around driver error in terms of failing to spot or correctly interpret road signs, particularly with international drivers who may be less familiar with the network. Our app can make a huge difference here.
“This project is about giving professional drivers a clear, unmissable alert before it’s too late, using technology they already trust in the cab. For fleets, that means fewer incidents, less downtime and safer journeys.”
The system is being developed with fleet use firmly in mind, based on years of experience garnered through the wide range of Road Angel dashcams, which are already widely used by professional drivers for safety, compliance and incident protection.
However, as part of its longer-term rollout plans, Road Angel intends to make the service available free all to end users through the new free app vs being dashcam dependent, removing cost barriers for haulage firms and accelerating adoption across the sector.
The Innovate UK funding forms part of the government-backed First of a Kind (FOAK) rail innovation programme, which supports new technologies designed to reduce risk and disruption at the road–rail interface.
Development and validation work will now progress, with the aim of proving a system that can be deployed rapidly at known bridge strike locations and scaled nationally from Q3 2026.
