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Chinese ride-hailing company DiDi Chuxing is to expand to 14 cities in Chile by the end of the year, according to a report by China Daily. Mi Yang, DiDi's head of operations in Latin America, says the company is aiming to provide a safe mobility service which will include an emergency hotline allowing passengers to communicate with the team. DiDi says the service will expand in October to the northern cities of Antofagasta, La Serena and Coquimbo; central cities of Rancagua, Talca, Concepcion and Temuco;

European and US city mayors have written an open letter in support of the thousands of people involved in global climate change strikes. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, New York’s Bill de Blasio, Los Angeles’ Eric Garcetti and lord mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, all signed an open letter which said: “We have an opportunity to show, not only that we hear their message, but that they have inspired us to act even faster.” The mayors emphasise that transforming cities to prevent the “climate crisis” will m

Ertico – ITS Europe is calling for session proposals and papers for the 14th ITS European Congress, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal on 18-20 May 2020. Themed ‘ITS: The Game Changer’, the Congress will look in particular at data, focusing on areas such as connected and automated mobility, and new mobility services, as well as transport network design and operations. A welcome message from European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, explains: “The Congress will also specifically look at other to

Software company HaCon is working with the Luxembourg Transport Community to introduce a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app which it says is designed to reduce congestion. The Transport Community - a public institution which works for the Ministry of Mobility and Public Works - aims to raise awareness of sustainable mobility. By integrating park-and-ride areas as well as the carpooling provider CoPilote, the Transport Community is hoping the Mobiliteit.lu app will encourage commuters to switch to public tr

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) intends to replace cash lanes with the electronic FasTrak tolling system at seven bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area. A report by Fox 2 KTVU says the MTC is hoping the $4 million upgrade will speed up traffic flow and save money on operations on the following bridges: Carquinez, Antioch, Benicia, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay, San Mateo and Dumbarton. For drivers without a FasTrak system, cameras will capture the number plates of their v

The Czech Metrology Institute (CMI) has approved a Weigh in Motion (WiM) system from Kistler to help prevent road damage from trucks. Kistler, a measurement technology company, says its KiTraffic system is being used to track and fine overloaded trucks on the D7 Highway from Prague to the north-west of the country. KiTraffic is comprised of Lineas brand quartz sensors integrated into the road, cameras, hardware and software. If a truck exceeds the weight limit, the system sends the weight and a photograph

McCain has been chosen by retail group Vestar to install its Optipark Parking Guidance System in the city of Pleasant Hill, California.

A global event which aims to shift cars off the road and encourage people onto alternative transport modes takes place on Sunday. World Car-Free Day 2019 gives metropolitan areas from Bangkok, Thailand to Reykjavik, Iceland, the opportunity to stop traffic and open their streets to pedestrians and cyclists. While some cities, including Vancouver, Canada and Berlin, Germany, hold car-free days at other times of the year, the weekend will see a number of events. In Washington, DC, it is hosted by Commut

As the Rugby World Cup kicks off in Japan, Masabi is expanding its mobile ticketing to help local and international fans navigate around Toyota City. Masabi says the move will allow riders to purchase daily bus passes in Jorudan’s trip planning app in English and Japanese. Toshikazu Sato, CEO of Jorudan, says: “We’re enabling people to not only plan their journey, but also buy their transport ticket and even buy a voucher for a meal. The barcode provides a simple and visual way for both bus drivers an

The US Department of Transportation (DoT) is to provide nearly $60 million in funding for eight projects to test the safe integration of autonomous driving systems (ADS). US secretary of transportation Elaine Chao says: “The Department is awarding $60 million in grant funding to test the safe integration of automated vehicles into America’s transportation system while ensuring that legitimate concerns about safety, security, and privacy are addressed.” The USDoT is delivering the funding via the Autom

Drivewyze is extending its safety notification service by adding mountain corridor safety alerts to more than 100 locations in 20 US states. The technology company says drivers receive in-cab alerts on safe locations to pull over to inspect brakes and prompts to change to a lower gear while showing suggested maximum speeds down steep grades. Product manager Charlie Mohn says: “All of the mountain passes included feature grades of 5% or higher. With our mountain safety alerts, our goal is to help drivers

A collaboration led by Nokia Bells is extending smart poles beyond the LuxTurrim5G project in the Finnish city of Espoo to a nearby residential area called Kera. The LuxTurrim5G project seeks to develop and demonstrate a fast 5G network based on smart light poles at Nokia’s campus. The new smart poles will support Sensible4’s autonomous bus Gatcha operating between this area and Kerra railway station. Juha Salmelin, LuxTurrim5G project coordinator from Nokia, says: “During the project, we have learned a

Connected vehicle data specialist Wejo and traffic management firm Waycare are to collaborate on a deal in Nevada. Part of an existing programme in the US state, Waycare will use the data “for more accurate traffic management solutions” and there are plans to extend the arrangement to other areas of the US. The companies say Wejo’s data will supplement Waycare’s existing traffic data sources, providing agencies with a comprehensive overview of conditions on the roads. The theory is that this will allo

Ride-share firm Lyft is seeking to head off concerns over passenger safety by requiring its drivers to take a ‘community safety’ course. Lyft has partnered with non-profit anti-sexual assault organisation Rainn, and drivers will be required to complete an education course designed by both parties. Riders and drivers must agree to Lyft’s community guidelines on behaving with care and respect. Passengers reported for violating these will be removed from the platform while drivers will be required to take add

Sleeping while a driverless car speeds you to your destination has long been touted as the dream of the new technology – and something of a nightmare for safety campaigners. A new video from the BBC shows exactly what happens if a driver falls asleep in an autonomous vehicle (AV). In the filmed test, the AV prompts the driver to resume control when approaching roadworks on a motorway. When the driver fails to act, the vehicle comes to a halt and automatically parks in a lay-by. Motor industry research