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Ertico – ITS Europe is calling for contributions to the ITS European Congress taking place in Lisbon next year. Authors of papers and organisers of proposed sessions will be asked during the online submission process to explain how their contribution aids sustainability and reflects the Congress’ overall theme of ITS: The Game Changer. The Portuguese capital has been chosen as European Green Capital for 2020. In a new development, the category Commercial Papers has been replaced by Business Presentations,

Ride-hailing company Waymo may be about to start operating fully-autonomous vehicles (AVs) to pick people up - without a safety driver. An email sent to users, which appeared on Reddit, said people in Phoenix, Arizona, who were matched with an AV will see a notification in the app that confirms the car will not have a trained driver. Users can tap a ‘What to Expect’ button within the app to learn more about the AVs. They can also communicate with a rider support agent at any part of the trip via the app o

Q-Free has unveiled LaneAware, a web-based application which it says streamlines the lane management of workzones to reduce workload on agency staff and minimise traffic disruptions. Q-Free America’s senior vice president Morten Andersson says most lane closures are managed via phone calls and Excel spreadsheets which creates a “nightmare for transportation management operations centres and contractors”. “LaneAware solves these issues and provides traffic managers with much greater situational awarene

British technology company Dyson has pulled out of a project to build electric vehicles (EVs), saying it is unable to make its car “commercially viable”. Chief executive Sir James Dyson said in a statement: “We have been through a serious process to find a buyer for the project which has, unfortunately, been unsuccessful so far.” The company, known primarily for its vacuum cleaners, says it will continue its £2.5 billion investment programme into new technology in two UK locations and in Singapore. It wil

Amsterdam’s authorities have announced that most municipality vehicles must be zero-emission by 2025 - followed by all other vehicles in the city 2030. The Dutch city says the municipality owns around 1,500 vehicles, which account for around 4% of all road traffic emissions in Amsterdam. As part of the plan, the city will aim to convert all its cars and small cars and delivery vans to zero-emission as early as 2022. Street-sweeping and cleaning trucks and other medium-sized vehicles will follow in 202

Uganda is to introduce a road toll on the Entebbe Expressway in January 2020.

An autonomous Mobility as a Service pilot at a retirement village is among the nominees in ITS Australia’s National Awards 2019. Aurrigo is exploring how the technology will be used safely by elderly passengers in an environment where technical systems are not well understood. The Queensland Police Service’s forensic crash unit has also been nominated - for using drones to map crash scenes to help reduce road closure times and traffic congestion. In addition, Cooee Busways was chosen for using vehicl

Reducing their environmental impact is as likely to persuade UK consumers to buy an electric vehicle (EV) as saving money, according to a new survey. Connected vehicle company Geotab surveyed 3,001 consumers on factors that appeal to them in an EV. Four out of 10 respondents are motivated by reducing their impact on the environment - compared to 45% for lowering running costs and 37% for lowering tax costs. Regional findings showed climate was a priority for nearly half the participants from the So

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has approved a package of toll and fare hikes to raise funds for large-scale improvements. Executive director Rick Cotton says: "We don't want to impose increases. But we must, on the other hand, support investment in our ageing, legacy facilities. Our infrastructure facilities are, simply, sub-par." A report in CTPost suggests the major projects include upgrades of LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Liberty airports, a new AirTrain serving LaGuardia and a new mono

Ten European Union (EU) countries have backed a proposal from Denmark to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars by 2040. Danish climate and energy minister Dan Jorgensen told Reuters that the ban will hopefully put pressure on the European Commission to the propose phasing out of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. He also suggested allowing individual countries to implement this measure if the EU could not agree on a union-wide ban. Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and other countries have suggested tha

Indra is to use drones to monitor road traffic and detect incidents in Lugo, Spain. The company plans to employ the drones as sensors for current transportation monitoring systems and integrate them into its transportation control solution Mova Traffic. It will also develop tools to analyse video and images taken by drones in a bid to detect incidents automatically. Additionally, the company will incorporate its drones with a transportation control centre, which will process real-time image and video tra

Here Technologies has released a software development kit (SDK) which it says provides real-time insights on driving conditions and upcoming obstacles without the need for connectivity. Here claims its Live Sense SDK uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to turn front-facing cameras such as smartphones and dashcams into vehicle sensors which can detect other vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists, potholes and road closures. Live Sense then provides information through audio and visual notificati

Greater London is more than twice over the legal limit for air pollution levels in the UK, according to a study. Charity ClientEarth says the UK is failing to meet the legal limits of nitrogen dioxide pollution, where the annual average concentration level is 40µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air). Findings show London’s annual mean concentration of 89 µg/m3 is followed by South Wales (62 µg/m3), West Midlands Urban Area (58 µg/m3), Glasgow Urban Area (58 µg/m3) and Tyneside (54 µg/m3). The study f

In-car automatic emergency braking systems with pedestrian detection mostly fail to avoid hitting pedestrians - and are “completely ineffective at night”, according to new research. In shocking findings, the American Automobile Association (AAA) revealed that most systems hit a simulated pedestrian target at 30mph. A collision also occurred 89% of the time when a vehicle operating at 20mph encountered a child darting between two cars. In tests, all vehicles collided with an adult pedestrian immediately fo

Septentrio provided GPS/global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology for computer vision supplier Artisense’s Visual Inertial Navigation System (VINS).