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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

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