News

The news that former French president Jacques Chirac has died, aged 86, should be of note for those in the road safety sector. His political legacy is well known. Chirac was prime minister of France from 1974-76 and again from 1986-88, mayor of Paris from 1977-95 and finally president of France from 1995-2007. But his political reputation ended under a cloud following his suspended sentence on corruption charges. Perhaps less well widely known, however, is that Chirac had a tremendously beneficial eff

Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs) is launching a blockchain-based electric scooter pilot for employees at its HQ in Bonn, Germany. John Calian, senior vice president of T-Labs, says the Xride service will decentralise identity management, data verification and storage, payments and charging. “This allows for a less costly, more secure and more efficient vehicle sharing that benefits both providers and the user,” Calian adds. T-Labs says Xride will be powered by Ståx, a platform which conn

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has completed the roll-out of Sydney’s Opal contactless payment system, with final installations this week across the Australian city’s bus network. CTS says commuters can now travel on buses, ferries, trains and light rail by tapping their contactless credit or debit card, mobile phone, mobile device or Opal card. Tom Walker, senior vice president and managing director, CTS, Asia-Pacific, says contactless travel provides commuters with access to an “integrated multi-s

Dublin-based Aptiv has partnered with South Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai Motor to develop SAE Level 4 and 5 autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies. Aptiv says the joint venture will begin testing fully autonomous systems in 2020 and have an autonomous driving platform available for robo-taxi providers, fleet operators and automotive manufacturers in 2022. As part of the deal, Aptiv is dedicating around 700 employees to develop AV solutions. Hyundai and its affiliates Kia Motors and Hyundai M

It is perhaps the best-known image of vulnerable road users (VRUs) in history: the Abbey Road pedestrian crossing in north London is famous from the photo gracing the cover of Abbey Road, the last studio album released by The Beatles, recorded at the nearby EMI studios. The iconic cover art shows the four celebrated VRUs - John, Paul, George and Ringo - walking across the road. And on the 50th anniversary of the release of the album, the crossing has now had a makeover. In addition, Wrekin and Thames Water

Lyft is adding protected bike lanes and bike-friendly routes to its app to encourage more people to use two-wheeled transportation. The Verge reports that the protected bike lanes will appear as dark green lines in the app while bike-friendly routes that are less protected will be represented as dotted green lines. The feature is available for Lyft bikes and scooter-sharing services on iOS devices, with Android to follow soon. Lyft’s head of micromobility policy, Caroline Samponaro, says: “Each ride

Lyft is adding protected bike lanes and bike-friendly routes to its app to encourage more people to use two-wheeled transportation. The Verge reports that the protected bike lanes will appear as dark green lines in the app while bike-friendly routes that are less protected will be represented as dotted green lines. The feature is available for Lyft bikes and scooter-sharing services on iOS devices, with Android to follow soon. Lyft’s head of micromobility policy, Caroline Samponaro, says: “Each ride

Amazon has ordered 100,000 new electric vehicles (EVs) as part of The Climate Pledge, a commitment which calls on signatories to be net zero carbon by 2040 – a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement. Companies signing the pledge agree to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis, implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement and neutralise remaining emissions with additional offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions. Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos says: “

C2A Security has launched a cybersecurity solution for connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) that uses NXP Semiconductors’ CAN (Controller Area Network) transceivers. C2A says the transceivers detect and prevent malicious activity on the vehicle’s CAN bus. The solution also includes the C2A Stamper firewall and the SecMon intrusion detection software to detect potentially malicious activity. It also uses an in-vehicle System on Chip to enable an appropriate response, the company adds. Nathanie

Technology start-up Unmanned Solutions is to deploy autonomous delivery robots in Sangam Digital Media City (DMC), an autonomous driving test bed South Korea’s capital Seoul. The Korean Times says the four-wheeled electric vehicles will operate in the city for a year, carrying 200kg of goods on a flat tray. Jung Young-Jae, a city official in charge of the start-up incubation project at Seoul Institute of Technology, says: “The robots will start with shipping supplies from freight trucks near the mai

Transport for London (TfL) has issued Uber London with just a two-month private hire operator licence. The ride-hailing company’s previous 15-month licence – awarded by a court on appeal after TfL originally decided not to grant one - expires tonight (25 September). Two years ago, TfL declared that Uber was not ‘fit and proper’ to hold a licence – before the court intervened. At the time, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi admitted the company was ‘far from perfect’. TfL now says it will be req

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has proposed investing $51.5 billion in the city’s subways, buses and railroads over the next five years. Janno Lieber, MTA chief development officer, says: “The proposed capital programme will be truly transformational – more trains, more buses, more service, more accessibility and more reliability.” The 2020-2024 Capital Plan would put $40bn into the city’s subways and buses and $6.1bn for 1,900 new subway cars to help mitigate delays. MTA also wa

Wejo has launched three products using connected vehicle data which it says can pinpoint where and when traffic is going to build up. Wejo founder Richard Barlow says the company has curated more than 130 billion miles of data, showing “the positive impact connected vehicles have on solving some of today’s biggest challenges facing road users”. He adds: “Drivers get direct benefits from sharing their connected vehicle data enabling their journeys to be faster, safer and less polluting.” The compan

The Ministry of Railways Development (MORD) in Ghana is to carry out a feasibility study on the development of a light rail system in the West African country. MORD will work with a consortium of companies from the Czech Republic to introduce the tram system to help reduce traffic congestion in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region in southern Ghana. Kumasi was identified as a priority city for the project following a preliminary study carried out by MORD and consortium leader Knights Transfer of Tec