News

Scooter-share firm Bird is to acquire Scoot, a San Francisco-based electric vehicle (EV) company. Scoot began deploying electric scooters in San Francisco in 2012 and has expanded in Santiago, Chile and Barcelona. Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird says the partnership will work toward replacing “car trips with micro mobility options for all”. Scoot will continue to operate under the same name but as a subsidiary of Bird.

Terrorists who have hijacked vans and trucks to drive into crowds – causing death and injury to pedestrians – could use autonomous vehicles (AVs) to achieve a similar result with no risk to themselves. That was the warning from Mike Gillespie, MD of security firm Advent IM. Speaking this week at the IFSEC International 2019 security conference in London, he said: “Imagine that you don’t have to get in the vehicle, you don’t have to be in the same city – or even the same country.” They would still be a

ParkMobile has joined forces with BMW subsidiary Reach Now to build integrated smart city solutions aimed at improving parking, transit and multimodal transportation. Users could pay for parking in a transit lot via the ParkMobile app and then use Reach Now to buy a ticket to ride a train, bus or ferry. Nat Parker, CEO of Reach Now, says the partners will create “smarter mobility solutions that help drive more intelligence for cities and help consumers get from point A to B”. The partnership betw

Masabi has launched Justride Validator, a ticketing device which it says will make account-based ticketing available for transport authorities of any size. Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi, says passengers are expecting to be able to use contactless bank cards and smart devices for ticketing. “However, the reality is that the hardware requirements have made it cost-prohibitive for many transit authorities around the globe,” he continues. “By failing to make tap and ride ticketing accessible to all transport

Teleste is to provide smart display technologies in Sweden which it says are designed to deliver dynamic information across public transport. Teleste claims that the technologies will help public transport operator Storstockholms Lokal Trafik (SL) improve journeys for passengers travelling by metro, buses, commuter trains and local trains. The solutions include a 55-inch touch screen information pillar for delivering travel planner services and weather information as well as platform and multiline displa

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has released ActiveVision, a machine vision tool that transportation agencies can use to autonomously detect and report changes in traffic conditions. Dan Rossiter, SwRI research analyst, says: "The goal is to help transportation officials enhance their ITS capabilities with advanced algorithms that autonomously scan vast amounts of visual data, extracting and reporting actionable data." SwRI says the tool’s algorithms process camera data to provide real-time informatio

The UK government has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds painting white lines on busy roads to use as cycle lanes, says former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman. Boardman, cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester, has reportedly joined fellow commissioners Dame Sarah Storey (Sheffield City region) and Will Norman (London) in writing to transport secretary Chris Grayling calling for new measures to be adopted. The Guardian says the letter argues that painted cycle lanes do not make cyc

Electric vehicles (EVs) are being used to power people’s homes on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Part of Portugal’s Madeira archipelago, Porto Santo is using solar-powered EVs, according to a BBC report. They are charged during the day, with unused energy returned to the grid at night. The Portuguese island is not the only part of the world seeking to harness the potential of solar energy for EVs. In India, Bharat Heavy Electricals is setting up a network of solar-based electric vehicle

Sony Europe’s Image Sensing Solutions (ISS) has unveiled a windscreen glare-removal function designed to help tolling and enforcement operations. It is available on the XPL-SDKW software development kit (SDK) for XCG-CP510 polarised camera modules. Sony ISS says the application is designed to improve road safety through ITS applications such as tracking seatbelt and mobile phone use or identifying a driver caught by speed and red light cameras. The SDK system enables system integrators to cut developm

Engineering company Ansys has joined forces with BMW to develop a simulation tool chain for developing autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies. Eric Bantegnie, vice president and general manager at Ansys, says the solution is designed to address “safety validation requirements for autonomous driving”. Ansys says simulation greatly reduces the need for physical testing which would require billions of miles of road tests across a range of driving conditions. The agreement is expected to help develop

Careem is expanding its ride-hailing service to the Iraqi city of Basra, according to a report by Albawaba. The report says Careem’s app will provide a more reliable service for riders who currently have to deal with unmetered taxi prices. Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder of Careem, is quoted as saying: “Our technology is helping create employment opportunities and providing essential mobility for millions of people in Iraq.” Mohamed Al-Hakim, general manager of Careem Iraq says: “Within the ne

French public transit operator RATP has signed an agreement to trial a hydrogen bus from Solaris in real operating conditions in France next year. The two-month trial is part of RATP’s ambition to convert its 25 bus depots to electric and biogas by 2025 and to operate a clean bus fleet of 4,700 vehicles. RATP says the Solaris bus will be housed at the Thiais bus depot in the Val-de-Marne department, located south-east of Paris.

Communauto is to launch a car-sharing service comprising hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) in Saint-Laurent, a borough in Montreal, Canada. Mayor Alan DeSousa says the Communauto Flex service will allow users “to get around more quickly in Saint-Laurent and easily access other Montréal boroughs”. It is free to join and works on a pay-as-you-go structure. Daily trips cost $0.41 per minute, $15 per hour and $50 per day. Drivers will only be allowed to park the Flex vehicles in a zone located by Boulevard

Inrix has launched a traffic solution which it says uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide updates to traffic conditions and pinpoint traffic speeds in different lanes. Inrix AI Traffic provides road authorities with information to help promote public safety and future-proof roadways, the company adds. According to Inrix, the solution also provides: • Estimated time of arrivals to ensure drivers arrive at their destination on-time • Instant updates on road conditions such as roadworks, accidents

Kapsch is to equip 30 toll rebate stations on the Olympia Odos motorway in Greece. The company says these will provide a distance-based pricing model for drivers in the country. Olympia Odos has links to the cities of Athens, Corinth and the port city of Patras on the Peloponnese, via 202km of motorway. The toll stations offer a rebate to road users if they do not travel the full distance corresponding to an average distance charging zone, Kapsch adds. Additionally, the solution will include th