Worldwide investments in smart pole and smart corridor technologies will grow from $10.8bn in 2022 to more than $132bn in 2030, according to ABI Research.

More than 10.8 million smart poles will have been installed by 2030.

“The aging concept of smart cities has largely failed to deliver its promises,” said Dominique Bonte, vice president at ABI Research. “New approaches are required in the form of more scalable, holistic and effective solutions to transform smart urban infrastructure and accelerate its deployment. Smart corridors and smart poles are expected to redefine the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and the wider smart cities markets.”

Smart poles are multi-functional aggregation points for smart urban infrastructure, built on top of smart streetlights and connected utility poles. They represent a cost-efficient, scalable and modular framework for deploying the whole spectrum of smart urban infrastructure, ranging from 5G small cells in the form of cellular network densification and wifi hotspots to surveillance and traffic cameras, signage and information displays, air quality and flood monitoring, and charging points for two- and four-wheel vehicles and drones, including renewable energy generation.

Smart pole technology vendors include Ubicquia, Verizon, Huawei, Signify, Nokia, LuxTurrim5G and Ekin Smart City.

The new concept of smart corridors refers to technologies such as cooperative adaptive traffic lights (CATL) and roadside infrastructure enabling autonomous driving on 5G-enabled cross-border highways and optimising traffic flow, road safety, and sustainable transportation across longer distances. Premium signal priority for freight and delivery vehicle pre-emption will offer monetisation opportunities for governments and road operators, ultimately leading to dedicated freight corridors.

Smart corridor government initiatives include the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2) digital programme for funding and deploying 5G corridors and the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).