Skip to main content

Association news around the globe

ITS New Mexico’s 2015 award has gone to the state’s Bernalillo County for establishing implementation criteria for adaptive traffic control and the installation of the state’s first system on Alameda Boulevard in Albuquerque. This uses Rhythm Engineering’s InSync Technology.
March 15, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
An InSync installation on Alameda Boulevard Albuquerque, New Mexico.
ITS New Mexico

Award for adaptive signalling documentation


8357 ITS New Mexico’s 2015 award has gone to the state’s Bernalillo County for establishing implementation criteria for adaptive traffic control and the installation of the state’s first system on Alameda Boulevard in Albuquerque. This uses Rhythm Engineering’s InSync Technology.

The county, the most populous in the state, has developed a file of the system engineering documentation needed to support the case for deployment. Its initiative is being followed by other NM administrations, with the state DoT adopting the documentation as a template for wider take up. 

Video cameras collect real-time traffic information to enable the optimisation of a new timing system across a designated set of intercommunicating signals covering seven intersections by adjusting green phases in peak periods. The county states that this does not significantly increase waiting times on side streets. Another phase is due to become operational by spring 2016.

“Bernalillo has set the standard and is leading the way for municipalities around us,” says county commissioner Lonnie Talbert.

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 TTS Italia false #TTS-Italia true false%>
%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 ITS Australia ITS OZ false #ITS-Austraila true false%>
%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal ITS Finland ITS FInalnd false #ITS-Finland true false%>


TTS Italia

Franco-Italian drive for new ITS markets


To join forces in competing effectively for, and winning, new business in the growing connected vehicle and smart mobility sectors is the challenge being set for French and Italian ITS-oriented companies, following a December 2015 meeting in Rome staged by 4155 TTS Italia and Business France. TTS secretary general Olga Landolfi stressed the value of the event for exchanging experience and information on best practice.

She also highlighted the importance of EC Member States implementing the ITS national plans they submitted to the European Commission. Full-scale enactment of Italy’s own plan, she said, could increase the existing transport infrastructure’s capacity by up to 10%.

“In France,” said French Embassy economic adviser Martin Landais, “the sector is worth between €5bn and €6.5bn (US5.5bn and US$7.2bn) and there is a political will to encourage and support ITS development.” He cited a pilot SCOOP@F project which is focussing on delivering real-time traffic information into vehicles, and due for national rollout during 2017.


ITS Australia

Lifetime accolade for Australia’s Garrett


858 ITS Australia has presented a lifetime achievement award to Andrew Garrett for four decades of service to the transport industry. He is best known for his introduction of Australia’s first school traffic zones and for working on the development of the country’s first dynamically variable speed limits.

  Garrett has also served as an ITS Australia board member at various stages over the past 25 years.

Other winners included: 
Seeing Machines, for their driver distraction and fatigue intervention technology for commercial vehicle fleets. 

The Department of Transport and Main Roads Queensland for its real-time travel information system installed across the state’s south eastern network. 

Data61, for its Advanced Data Analytics in Transport (ADAIT) research into improving urban traffic modelling.


ITS Finland

ITS Finland’s Sampo Hietanen resigns

Sampo Hietanen has resigned after three years as CEO of 7350 ITS Finland to head up the newly-formed 8356 MaaS (Mobility as a Service) Finland – the first such mobility company in the world.

He aims to put into practice the MaaS concept he has helped to create, of replacing private car ownership with a range of subscription-based multi-modal travel options.

He believes that these can “beat the service level of a car, or at least be comparable to it”. 

Hietanen hopes to get an initial system for Finland under way in 2016 and “in one or two other interesting areas.”

A vigorous proponent of MaaS, he presented the concept to 7075 ITS Ireland in November 2015.

As ITS International went to press, ITS Finland was in the process of appointing his successor.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • BYD delivers electric buses in Nepal
    October 26, 2018
    BYD has delivered five electric C6 buses to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation in Kathmandu to help improve air quality in Nepal. The buses will operate in Lumbini, a Buddhist pilgrimage and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) world heritage site. This deployment is part of a wider initiative from the Nepalese government to replace 1,000 taxis in Kathmandu Valley, as well as school buses, with electric vehicles. Last month, BYD also delivered 12
  • MaaS to replace 2.3bn annual car journeys by 2023, says Juniper
    October 1, 2018
    Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platforms will replace over 2.3 billion urban private car journeys by 2023, according to new research. This compares with 17.6 million globally in 2018. According to the study from Juniper Research, western Europe will account for 83% of global MaaS trips in 2023. Mobility-as-a-Service: Emerging Opportunities, Vendor Strategies & Market Forecasts 2018-2023 says Helsinki, Finland, will lead MaaS implementation, followed by Stockholm, Sweden and Vienna, Austria.
  • Ride-hailing and taxi drivers could face tougher criminal checks in England
    February 14, 2019
    Drivers who ply their trade on apps such as Uber could be under greater scrutiny as part of proposals being put forward by the UK government. The potential risk to passengers from the explosion of ride-hailing apps, as private-hire drivers are perceived to receive less thorough vetting – for example, to flag up past convictions – has long been argued. Incidents such as the murders of passengers by a Didi driver in China heightened such concerns - although critics point out that a US Uber driver who ad
  • Flir and Traficon track cyclists
    May 21, 2012
    Flir has teamed up with Traficon to develop automatic detection for cyclists using thermal imaging. The two companies have jointly developed a thermal video solution that meets all federal and state guidelines for tracking cyclists throughout the approach to an intersection.