News

October’s ITS World Congress in Singapore will address topics under the theme ‘Smart Mobility, Empowering Cities’. The congress is being organised by the Land Transport Authority of Singapore and the Intelligent Transport Society Singapore in collaboration with ITS Asia-Pacific, ITS America and Ertico – ITS Europe. ITS International is the event’s official media partner. Autonomous vehicles, multimodal transport, cybersecurity and data privacy will be covered at this year’s event. Delegates and participa

Thales is to provide its SelTrac Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system for the City of Ottawa’s Stage 2 O-Train Confederation Line Extension project in Canada. Thales says the line will take 780,000 annual rush-hour bus trips off the road and will carry up to 24,000 customers per hour. Once complete, it will run from Trim Road and west to Baseline Road and Moodie Drive across 29 stations spanning a distance of 40km. The CBTC moves block signalling technologies to actively manage the track in r

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has purchased 373 Volvo SB3 buses which come with Euro 6 (B8RLE) emissions engines. Mattar Al Tayer, director general at RTA, says: "The purchase of the new buses comes as part of an integrated strategic plan developed by the authority to upgrade the mass transportation system in Dubai.” RTA says each bus will be able to carry up to 74 passengers and will feature interactive touch screens which display information on the journey. The driver behaviour monito

Vitronic is to deliver 750 Poliscan Redlight systems to an unnamed client to help improve safety at road junctions in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. Vitronic says the laser-based system can simultaneously monitor infringements such as jumping red lights and speeding while removing the need for sensor installations within road surfaces. The Poliscan Connect software carries out the automatic transfer of case data and allows users to monitor the systems online while offering remote access to

Panasonic North America has entered into a $50 million partnership with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDoT) to develop an advanced transportation data network. Panasonic says the network will improve safety and mobility on the road by sharing data between vehicles, infrastructure, roadways and traffic operators in real-time. The network is expected to provide the UDoT traffic operations centre with insights into crashes, severe weather or stalled vehicles. Personnel working at the centre wi

Rekor Systems is to launch a camera recognition solution which it says is designed to read the vehicle make, model, number plate, colour and body type. The Rekor Edge solution comes with an accuracy rate exceeding 99% and is suitable for parking and law enforcement, the company adds. Rod Hillman, chief operating officer of Rekor, says: “With Rekor Edge, we’re democratising vehicle recognition solutions by bringing a cost-efficient and user-friendly solution to potential markets.” According to Rektor, th

Kapsch TrafficCom is to oversee the infrastructure integration of the Smart Columbus Connected Vehicle Environment (CVE) in the US city of Ohio. The CVE is expected to improve safety and mobility for vehicle operators and pedestrian safety in school zones through connected vehicle infrastructure. It is part of the Smart Columbus programme, an initiative which shares lessons learned and best practices from integrating ITS in a bid to increase transportation mobility and safety. Kapsch will deploy

Keolis is to operate and maintain the French Riviera Urban Community’s public transport network ‘Zest’, in a deal expected to generate a total revenue of €60 million. Keolis is seeking to improve the transport network across 15 cities and villages of the community located along the Mediterranean coastline in southeast France. The company will also roll out digital services such as Wi-Fi in all buses. From 8 July, the company’s subsidiary Keolis Menton Riviera will start running regular and extracurri

PayTollo is launching its mobile payment platform for toll roads and bridges in the US states of California, Texas, Florida, Colorado and Washington. The company says the platform reduces costs and the time needed for toll authorities to collect funds by removing the need for paper invoices. According to PayTollo, the solution’s GPS toll recognition technology algorithm and user interface can notify, verify and charge a driver for toll crossings. Alternatively, drivers can also use the tolling solution

Cohda Wireless has partnered with India-based Sasken Technologies to accelerate the adoption of vehicle to everything (V2X) in connected vehicles utilising cellular or dedicated short range communication (DSRC). Cohda will combine its wireless DSRC/C-V2X stack and applications with Sasken’s telematics control unit with the stated aim of making road transport safer and smarter. Calvin Nichols, vice president at Sasken, says the partners are seeking to create a “telematics reference design” that will bene

Iteris is to acquire Albeck Gerken, a traffic operations engineering company in Florida, for a total of $10.7 million. Iteris will use Albeck’s traffic management facility to develop its Intersection as a Service offering, which helps users monitor signalised operations to improve safety. Aleck’s facility includes a traffic management centre, traffic operations lab and training centre, from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Aside from Tampa, Albeck has a second office in Orlando as well as other offic

The Government of Japan is to install 5G wireless communications base stations on traffic signals nationwide by 2025. A report by The Japan News says the project is expected to reduce costs for telecommunications service providers. As part of the project, traffic signals will be equipped with devices to measure the amount of traffic. The information sent from the stations to the vehicles is expected to support autonomous driving. Japan is not the only company looking to harness the potential of 5G. In F

Japanese manufacturer Kyocera has joined forces with BYD (Build Your Dreams) to develop an integrated renewable supply-demand energy system for electric vehicles (EVs). Kyocera will combine its solar power generating systems with BYD’s electric buses in a bid to reduce power losses and maintain a stable supply-demand energy balance. For the project, Kyocera is to develop the energy and charge management system to control the supply-demand balance between energy production and consumption by using ag

Transport companies are under concerted attack from hackers, according to security specialist Irdeto – and most don’t know how to respond. New research from the group says that 77% of organisations in transport and automotive have experienced an Internet of Things (IoT)-focused cyberattack in the past year – but only 6% “have what they need to combat cyberattacks”. The survey of 225 companies in China, Germany, Japan, UK and US found that the incursions had an impact on 91% of those which experience

In a bid to highlight the ongoing problem of pollution from vehicles, London is to stage its biggest car-free day yet on 22 September. The Sunday date has been timed to coincide with World Car Free Day, which encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day. This type of activity is increasingly popular in cities worldwide – with Bogota, Colombia, and Jakarta, Indonesia, among the early adopters – as authorities wake up to the health impacts. More than half of air pollution in the UK capital is ca