Location Based Systems

Research just released by telecommunications company Telefónica suggests that consumers are ready for connected cars. According to the study, there is sufficient global demand for connected car services, with more than 70 per cent of drivers surveyed saying that they are interested in using, or are already using, connected car services. The survey found that around half of consumers now consider connected features, such as inbuilt connectivity and the ability to plug in a smartphone, a key part of their

Scott F. Belcher, president and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), has responded to the Wi-Fi Innovation Act introduced by US Representatives Bob Latta, Darrell Issa, Anna Eshoo and Doris Matsui. The Act would put pressure on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow unlicensed devices to operate in the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum set aside by the FCC for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication technology showcased by Preside

Denso Corporation has begun testing advanced driving support technology on a public road in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The company is testing automated driving scenarios in a single lane and testing automatic lane changes and other driving manoeuvres. Denso’s goal is to develop technologies that reduce driver workload and assist in safe driving. Denso has previously tested this technology on its test course in Japan. Its goal with public road testing is to identify, analyse and solve real-life problems tha

US president Barack Obama has highlighted his Administration’s support for intelligent transportation systems as a job creator and high-tech solution for reducing vehicle crashes and traffic gridlock. Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) members and staff joined President Obama at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia, where the President toured the research and testing facility and delivered remarks on the importance of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicl

The DRIVE C2X provides a comprehensive, Europe-wide assessment of cooperative systems through field operational tests, and is to present its results on 16 and 17 July in Berlin. The test results are the last step in the preparation for the roll-out of cooperative systems in Europe. During the three and a half years of the project, more than 750 drivers tested eight safety-related functions of cooperative functions all over Europe. The operational tests took place in seven test sites in Finland, France, G

IEEE has released the findings of a survey that revealed expert opinions about the future of driverless cars, from challenges to mass adoption, essential autonomous technologies, features in the car of the future, and geographic adoption. More than 200 researchers, academicians, practitioners, university students, society members and government agencies in the field of autonomous vehicles, participated in the survey. When survey respondents were asked to assign a ranking to six possible roadblocks to th

To demonstrate the interoperability between the European eCall system and the Russian Era-Glonass system, Glonass Union, VTT, Gemalto and Fujitsu Ten recently participated in live simultaneous demonstrations in Europe and Russia. To help mitigate the consequences of serious road accidents, the European Commission (EC) has adopted a proposal for a regulation concerning a type-approval requirement for deployment of the eCall system. In Russia, a technical regulation on wheeled-vehicle safety with Era-Glona

A wide-ranging report produced by transport expert Professor David Begg, A 2050 vision for London, looks at the impact that the rise of autonomous transport systems might have on UK cities, and in particular London. Begg’s report proposes 10mph zones for traffic near schools and in busy areas and suggests that the safety of and efficiency of London's transport network could be improved by the introduction of driverless vehicles. Speeds for automated buses could be restricted by remote control, while

Toyota Technical Center’s (TTC) general manager of the Integrated Vehicle Systems Department, Hideki Hada, has been awarded a patent for the development of vehicle speed indication using vehicle to infrastructure technology. The idea behind vehicle speed indication using vehicle-infrastructure is to improve traffic flow by dynamically adjusting posted speed limits on highways using vehicle to vehicle communication. The system uses Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) to transmit vehicle speed t

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has begun testing of vehicle-crash avoidance technology on a short road from Seoul to Suwon on the Seoul-Busan expressway, with a view to reducing the number of highway accidents. The accident avoidance system uses wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE) technology which allows vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, detecting any change in road conditions and warning drivers of potential hazards. Closed circuit