Location Based Systems

Moscow, which has to contend with heavy congestion on its arterial and ring roads during rush hour, relies heavily on its newly-implemented intelligent transportation system (ITS). At the heart of the system is PTV Group’s model-based PTV Optima, which delivers accurate traffic information in real-time and enables dynamic forecasting for a timescale of 60 minutes. PTV Optima collects, compares, validates and combines data from multiple sources to produce a coherent and detailed traffic picture. Using a comb

Western Australia’s transportation agency, Main Roads, has prepared a report, Automated vehicles: Are we ready?, that highlights the implications of the introduction and wider use of automated vehicles (AVs), or driverless cars on Western Australian roads. The report says that AV technology is developing so rapidly that these cars may be seen on the Western Australia road network sooner than expected, fundamentally changing the transport network. Driverless trucks have been operating in some Western Austra

The American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) has backed the proposal by US Representative Candice Miller to authorise the use of existing surface transportation funding to invest in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies that improve highway safety. Introducing the proposal earlier in February, Miller said, “V2I and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technologies are undoubtedly the future of automotive safety. However, we need to make sure state and federal highway safety initiatives keep pace and allow for t

A number of Dutch provinces and municipalities are investigating whether ‘rapid’ cycling is a feasible transport option for commuters. The authorities in the Drenthe and Groningen provinces and the municipalities of Groningen, Haren, Assen and Tynaarlo are investigating whether a 30 kilometre route between Assen and Groningen can be adapted to encourage motorists to switch to bicycles. Several innovative options, such as sensors, alternative power generation and asphalt that glows in the dark, are being con

The US Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition, the Center for Auto Safety and Road Safe America have filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requesting that the agency initiate rulemaking to require forward collision avoidance and mitigation braking (F-CAM) systems on all new large trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or more. F-CAM technology uses radar and sensors to first alert the driver and then t

As the Drive Me project enters its second year, Volvo Cars is moving rapidly towards the aim of placing 100 self-driving cars in the hands of customers on selected roads around Gothenburg by 2017. The key to making this unprecedented leap is a complex network of sensors, cloud-based positioning systems and intelligent braking and steering technologies. Volvo Cars’ Autopilot system is designed to be reliable enough to allow the car to take over every aspect of driving in autonomous mode. The main challenge i

The French coastal town of La Rochelle will host a series of events related to CityMobil2 and road vehicle automation during next CityMobil events programme between 30 and 31 March 2015. La Rochelle is the site of one of the main CityMobil2 demonstrations of automated road passenger transport systems, which operates from December 2014 to March 2015. Events attendees will have the opportunity to travel in the automated vehicles, provided by CityMobil 2's partner Robosoft, which will be circulation along the

Volvo Cars, the Swedish Transport Administration and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration are working together on a project to enable cars to share information about conditions that relate to road friction, such as icy patches, or if another driver in the area has its hazard lights on. The research project is getting closer to real-world implementation; with the technology in place, the testing and validation phase is about to begin. In this phase, Volvo Cars will expand the test fleet 20-fold and broa

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA), in partnership with the Battelle Memorial Institute, will develop and test collision avoidance systems for its 500 bus fleet that serves Cuyahoga County, thanks to a US$2.7 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. The collision avoidance technology is similar to that currently available in high-end automobiles. It detects, warns and even automatically stops the vehicle when getting too close to another object. “RTA is at the national for

The EU's TEN-T Programme is to provide over US$7.4 million funding to support a pilot project which will test and assess cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) to improve road safety, traffic management and multimodality in France. The pilot is the first of a two-phase project to study C-ITS and define a national roadmap to enable vehicles communicate with each other and the road infrastructure for greater transport efficiency and increased safety. It will focus on testing C-ITS applications, imp