Location Based Systems

Dubai has taken a major step towards autonomous vehicles with the launch of its Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy, which aims to transform 25 per cent of the total transportation in Dubai to autonomous mode by 2030. The Dubai Autonomous Transportation Strategy is expected to save US$6 billion in annual economic revenues by reducing transportation costs, carbon emissions and accidents, and raising the productivity of individuals as well as saving hundreds of millions of hours wasted in conventional tr

TomTom and Norwegian road construction and maintenance software developer Sima are to collaborate to offer Sima24 applications based on TomTom’s Bridge solution, a hardware platform that seamlessly connects business applications with TomTom technology. TomTom Bridge provides an open platform to enable users to connect Android-based business applications seamlessly with TomTom navigation solutions, helping to provide mobility solutions on a single device.

SMRT Services and 2Getthere have formed a joint venture to market, supply and operate 2getthere’s automated vehicle systems in the Asia-Pacific region. The new Singapore-based JV, 2getthere Asia, will jointly market, install, operate and maintain the Automated Vehicle systems for customers in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific. The JV aims to showcase 2getthere’s third generation Group Rapid Transit (GRT) vehicle capabilities in Singapore by the end of the year, highlighting the vehicle’s new features.

UK company Colas will begin building and trialling the first autonomous impact protection vehicle (IPV) in the UK this year in partnership with two US companies, Royal Truck and Equipment and Micro Systems. Fitted with an electro-mechanical system and fully integrated sensor suite, the autonomous IPV has a leader/follower capability that allows it to follow a lead vehicle, unmanned. GPS position data is transmitted from the leader vehicle to the follower vehicle, which uses the data to follow the exact p

On the heels of last week’s announcement that Toyota is putting more boots on the ground in Ann Arbor to study fully autonomous driving and advanced mobility, Toyota is to partner with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) at the Ann Arbor Connected Vehicle Test Environment (AACVTE) in an operational real-world deployment of connected vehicles and infrastructure. AACVTE is a real-world implementation of connected vehicle safety technologies being used by everyday driver

TomTom has collaborated with the French PSA Peugeot Citroen Group in an EU gathering of top politicians in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam. TomTom provided its HD Maps and RoadDNA to enable PSA Group to participate in the self-driving car demonstration in Amsterdam, where EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc and 28 EU Transport Ministers gathered under the Dutch EU presidency, to work towards eliminating regulatory and technical barriers around autonomous driving. The vehicles were used in a demo

On 14 April, European Transport Ministers released the Declaration of Amsterdam on Cooperation in the field of connected and automated driving. FIA Region I and its European Mobility Clubs welcome the Dutch Presidency’s ambition to facilitate the introduction of highly automated and connected vehicles throughout Europe by 2019. The document’s objective is to intensify cooperation, leading to the expected benefits of vehicle automation in terms of safety, efficiency and sustainability while also supporting v

Kapsch has recently become a member of the Car2Car Communication Consortium, an association of European vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, IT companies and research organisations. The goal of the Consortium is the improvement of both safety and efficiency of road traffic by means of new communication technology. Toward this end, it is dedicated to the standardisation and improved use of technology for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication as well as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, together

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Outlook of Global Autonomous Driving Market in 2016, indicates that the autonomous driving market is all set to receive a huge boost with 80 per cent of automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) looking to finalise their automation technology roadmap in 2016. This trend is expected to pave the way for new business models in the automotive ecosystem. Once the market establishes a conducive testing environment and develops improved sensing capabilities, t

Ford recently conducted tests at its Arizona proving ground to determine how autonomous cars could navigate at night without headlights. According to Ford, it’s an important development, in that it shows that even without cameras, which rely on light, Ford’s LiDAR, working with the car’s virtual driver software, is robust enough to steer around winding roads. While it’s ideal to have all three modes of sensors, radar, cameras and LiDAR, the latter can function independently on roads without stoplights.