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Cloud computing company Alibaba Cloud has partnered with Sena Traffic Systems to build smart traffic system in Malaysia which it claims could reduce travel time by 12%. Selina Yuan, president of Alibaba, says: "The smart traffic solution will constantly learn and adapt to changing traffic environments, making the traffic management system a smart learning platform and no longer just an analytic tool." Alibaba is to provide its cloud computing resources and City Brain, a solution which uses real-time c

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has approved a contract with Elon Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC) to construct an underground people mover. LVCVA says the $48.675,000 contract will allow TBC to build a people mover that could safely carry passengers in autonomous electric vehicles via a loop of underground express-route tunnels. The underground loop system is expected to offer reduced total costs and less disruption to pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Once complete, the loop is

Q-Free is to provide its automatic number plate recognition service to five unnamed regional tolling companies in Norway – in a deal valued 26 million NOK (£2.3m). Q-Free says the five-year contract will provide a new system for toll charging in Norway. The project is scheduled to begin this Autumn.

Panasonic has launched an electric vehicle (EV) charging service in India with the aim of helping fleets owners manage their vehicles more efficiently. Panasonic says its Nymbus service combines physical components such as charging stations, swap stations, on board charges, telematics systems and the virtual components like cloud service, analytics, intuitive dashboard, and artificial intelligence. Initially, Panasonic will provide the charging service for 150 electric three wheelers offered by SmartE an

The Transit Authority of River City (TARC) has released a mobility app in Louisville, Kentucky, which allows users to plan and book trips across multiple modes of transport. TARC says the integrated mobility platform allows users to access Uber, Lyft, Bird’s scooters and LouVelo’s bike-share service. Sumithra Jagannath, digital president at ZED, says the company’s Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platform is powering the app and provides “analytics and real-time data on system usage, origins and destination

Atkins has joined forces with electric aircraft company Vertical Aerospace in the UK city of Bristol to develop intercity air taxi services. The partners are aiming to develop a blueprint for urban air mobility, with Atkins designing the system and infrastructure around the air vehicle. Atkins says the blueprint will cover aviation infrastructure, passenger experience, operating models, intelligent mobility and cyber security. Philip Hoare, president of Atkins, says the development of a system i

Authors Oliver Gassmann, Jonas Böhm and Maximilian Palmié have published a book to aid stakeholders in the development of smart cities. The authors say Smart Cities: Introducing Digital Innovations to Cities explores how the smart city concept promises to solve urban issues such as mobility, pollution and inclusion. The book is expected to serve as road map and provide answers to the following questions: • What core elements constitute smart cities? • How can the digital shadow of city element

SmartWitness, a manufacturer of vehicle CCTV, has entered into an agreement to expand Insight Mobile Data’s LiveCam solutions line. Insight will now offer SmartWitness’ dashboard-mounted video camera as a combination in-cab video and GPS tracking solution for fleets looking to record driving events while also capturing real-time vehicle location and activity. Doug Hawley, chief operating officer, at InSight, says adding a combination vehicle tracking and video unit to LiveCam “provides a simpler dashcam

InDriver has launched its ride-hailing service in Johannesburg, South Africa, which allows the driver and rider to negotiate lower fares. A report by IT News Africa says drivers can use the InDriver app to accept or ignore offers as well as negotiate for a higher price. Rifqa Carr, InDriver spokesperson says: “Drivers have the freedom to choose whichever ride request they like, without any risk of being penalised. They’re also able to see the full fare, from point A to point B, and can then decide

Ford’s GoBike is to launch an adaptive bike-share pilot programme for disabled people living in the city of Oakland, San Francisco Bay. The 26-week pilot stems from an agreement with the Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program (BORP), Lyft and the Oakland Department of Transportation (DoT). Caroline Samponaro, head of bike, pedestrian and scooter policy at Lyft, says: “Launching this programme will allow us to learn more about the specific needs of the disability community and work closely with them.” B

Electronic Transaction Consultants (ETC) has earned final system acceptance for a back-office toll collection system for the Harris County Toll Road Authority in Texas. ETC says its RiteHorizon system is a platform of modules designed to address the specific features of the tolling applications and auditability of entities that deal with financials and reconciliations. According to ETC, the platform can easily integrate with new modules and comes with features such as payment plan management, treasury m

Oxford University’s Dr. Rafael H. M. Pereira has won the International Transport Forum’s (ITF) 2019 Young Researcher of the Year Award.

SAE International, a mobility standards developer, has formed a consortium to develop a framework of best practices to support secure mobility data sharing. It says the consortium will develop standardised data definitions and metrics as well as best practices to ensure appropriate safeguards for geolocation and personal data shared between mobility operators and cities. SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (SAE ITC), an affiliate organisation specialising in bringing together public agencies and industr

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has suggested a merger with Renault which it believes would make the combined company a ‘world leader’ in new mobility technologies. The proposal stems from discussions between both companies to identify products and geographies in which they could collaborate. FCA says the case for combination is strengthened by the need to take bold decisions to capture opportunities such as connectivity, electrification and autonomous vehicles (AVs). The combined business is expected

Ultimate Visual Solutions (UVS) has appointed Pawel Religa as a representative in Central and Eastern Europe to sell its Lucidity wall controller and control software. Religa will be based in Poland, but will cover Russia and other key parts of the European mainland UVS, a traffic control room company, says Lucidity is aimed at clients who require a solution where full command and control components are not needed. The Lucidity Wall Manager provides the launching of sources by dragging and dropping tem