Location Based Systems

Seattle-based traffic data company Inrix is working on a feature that will provide toll road users with detailed real-time data on traffic speeds, travel times and incidents by dedicated lanes versus general purpose lanes. This data will allow constantly updated reports on relative speeds in general lanes versus express lanes and other parallel roads and will allow for more accurate routing. Drivers should be able to start getting data which will enable them to know what their time savings will be on to

TomTom has released the latest version of TomTom Traffic which now includes an innovative ‘jam ahead warning’ feature, which pinpoints the precise location of a traffic jam and sends an early-warning alert so that drivers can safely reduce their speed. Available automatically to all existing users, TomTom Traffic also includes new features that further improve routeing accuracy. TomTom Traffic now detects road closures and road works automatically on more roads. A new ‘predictive flow feed’ can more accurat

Building on multi-modal transit services provided over the past ten years, Iteris is to provide a multi-jurisdiction bus traffic signal priority system (BSP) for Torrance Transit’s Rapid Line in Los Angeles County, California. The US$2.2 million contract includes the design, procurement, deployment, and on-going operation and maintenance of a multi-jurisdiction BSP at 83 signalised intersections. The BSP system utilises existing on-bus systems that incorporate GPS-based automatic vehicle location equipme

With an innovative approach designed to meet the need for redundant positioning and navigation systems, Hartmut Runge from the Earth Observation Center (EOC) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has just been named the overall winner of this year's Copernicus Masters, and the competition's BMW ConnectedDrive Challenge. The competition was previously called the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme (GMES).

The Compass4D project has awarded over US$500,000 of EU funding to the city of Verona to deploy three services: red light violation warning, road hazard warning, and energy efficient intersections. In Verona, one of the most advanced cities in Italy in terms of ITS cooperative systems, vehicles will be gradually equipped with in-vehicle units which will communicate with roadside units and will also be usable in the other six pilot cities. The Compass4D pilot site is located in the city centre and will invol

A new report by the US Government Accountability office (GAO) expects vehicle to vehicle (V2V) technologies to offer safety benefits, but says that a variety of deployment challenges exist. The report finds that development of V2V technologies has progressed to the point of real world testing, and if broadly deployed, they are anticipated to offer significant safety benefits.

A fire in the third-bore of the Caldecott tunnel that killed seven in 1982 led to changes to standards for new tunnels, including the new fourth bore which is due to open later this month.

A wireless automatic vehicle identification (AVI) recently installed for public transportation provider Veolia in Sweden enables the company to control access to its gated dedicated motorway ramp. The Idesco system, installed by access control and security system supplier, GPP Perimeter Protection, includes passive windscreen tags on the buses, RFID readers and a bus gate controller to enable bus drivers to access the ramp without stopping to open the gate and prevents access by unauthorised drivers.

Research by the UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has found that three quarters of drivers are concerned that the use of intelligent speed adaptations (ISAs) will compromise safety. Last month, the EU announced that it was considering rules for new cars to be installed with ISA technology, which would be capable of detecting speed limits through cameras or satellites and automatically applying the brakes. Existing vehicles could be forced to be retrofitted with the devices.

The EU co-funded AutoNet2030 research project begins in November 2013, and will run through to October 2016. The aim of the project is to enable the introduction of more fail-safe, cost effective automated driving technologies to make road traffic safer and more convenient. Deployment is expected to be in 2020-2030, when cooperative wireless communications will already have been available in the majority of vehicles.