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UITP has opened two regional training centres in Istanbul, Turkey, and Shenzhen, China, to provide its members with courses in sustainable mobility. The international organisation for public transport says Istanbul was chosen for its bus rapid transit systems while Shenzhen was selected for its developments in electric buses and e-taxis. The project is part of an agreement with Shenzhen Bus and Marmara Municipalities Union in Istanbul. The Shenzhen regional training centre will offer courses in

Energy company Vector has partnered with Dutch start-up Chargetrip to launch an electric vehicle (EV) journey planning app in New Zealand aimed at reducing ‘range anxiety’ for drivers. Range anxiety is a term used to describe the stress EV users experience when their destination could be further than their vehicle can travel without charging. The project, supported by growth accelerator Elemental Excelarator, is seeking to help drivers switch to electric driving. The app will offer information o

Volocopter has joined forces with Fraport to develop concepts for the ground infrastructure required to allow air taxis at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. Volocopter says its partnership with German airport manager Fraport will focus on integrating what it calls ‘Volocopter Ports’ into existing infrastructure. The company believes that these could be used in the future to serve as a link between existing urban transportation junctions and provide connections to and from the airport. The Volocopter

The government of Canada is investing CAN$300,000 in the construction of six electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers in Vancouver. This funding is part of the government’s CAN$182.5m investment to develop a fast-charging network for EVs and establish natural gas stations along roads and hydrogen stations in metropolitan areas. The chargers are partially funded through the Electric Vehicle and Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Deployment Initiative, a programme which falls under Canada’s $180 billion Inves

Init has launched a simulation and planning tool which it says will allow transit agencies and bus manufacturers to integrate electric vehicles (EV) into fleets The company says the eMobile-Plan can be used to simulate scenarios using different types of electric buses, different placements of charging stations within a network, as well as route profiles and temperature ranges to generate efficient timetables, blocks and duty schedules. Also, agencies can use the solution to define the medium and long-t

Telecoms company China Mobile is working with highway operators to unveil a 5G-based smart expressway programme in China’s central Hubei province. A report by Ecns.com says the company’s Hubei subsidiary is taking steps to choose sites for 5G stations, test intelligent tolling systems and prepare for trials involving driverless cars. China Mobile’s Hubei branch is working with the group’s tech subsidiary in Shanghai and with Hubei Provincial Communications Investment to investigate how ultrafast 5G

Cognitive Technologies has joined forces with Russian manufacturer PC Transport Systems to deploy an autonomous tram on the streets of Moscow by 2022. Cognitive says that its simplified system means autonomous trams will appear on public roads much earlier than self-driving cars. The company claims its system will detect vehicle and other trams, traffic lights, pedestrians, tram and bus stops, railway and switches and obstacles. Also, the technology will allow the tram to stop in front of obstacles a

Drivers who ply their trade on apps such as Uber could be under greater scrutiny as part of proposals being put forward by the UK government. The potential risk to passengers from the explosion of ride-hailing apps, as private-hire drivers are perceived to receive less thorough vetting – for example, to flag up past convictions – has long been argued. Incidents such as the murders of passengers by a Didi driver in China heightened such concerns - although critics point out that a US Uber driver who ad

Lyft is launching a Green Mode feature within its app to provide riders in Seattle with the option to travel in an electric or hybrid vehicle. The move follows the company’s planned introduction of thousands of electric vehicles (EVs) onto its platform this year. Lyft says the deployment will allow its drivers to increase net earnings as it says the cost of travelling in an EV is half that of a petrol-powered car, therefore saving hundreds of dollars per month on fuel costs. Drivers can switch

The Netherlands is the number one country in terms of readiness to deploy autonomous vehicles (AVs) – except for one small problem: bicycles. People on two wheels - in this notoriously bike-friendly country - pose a problem for the deployment of AVs in built-up areas, according to research by KPMG. “We have a lot of bicycles,” says Stijn de Groen, manager digital advisory, automotive, at KPMG in the Netherlands. “In urban, crowded areas it will be very difficult to start autonomous driving.” Leavin

Next month’s MaaS Market conference in London will host a session dedicated to first/last mile travel within multimodal trips delivered through Mobility as a Service (MaaS) platforms. The provision of first/last mile connections is crucial if MaaS is to provide travellers with a convenient alternative to using private cars for every journey. In the session, Richard Corbett from micro scooter provider Bird, and Katy Medlock of peer-to-peer car share company Drivy, will be joined by Amsterdam-based researc

VeoRide is to launch an electric scooter with a swappable battery in the US – which it says sets the product apart from anything on the market. The company could not resist a dig at commercial rivals, saying that its R&D team designed vehicles “from the ground up for commercial/shared use, rather than sourcing the same Ninebot or Segway scooters that Lime, Bird and others use”. VeoRide claims that its scooter will last four to eight times longer than others – and suggests that it will also improve s

Mobility as a Service firm Moovit has linked up with TomTom and Microsoft’s Azure Maps to launch a multimodal trip planning app. The companies say it offers users their options for driving a car to park at a station, for example, and taking a train before completing the journey using other modes such as bike. “With most jobs still residing in densely populated cities, the typical commute is becoming multimodal, requiring the suburbanite to first drive to a public transit stop and continue their commut

Clean and affordable transportation and zero-emission vehicle infrastructure are at the heart of the US Democrats’ ‘Green New Deal’ package. The proposals seek to move the US away from fossil fuels and other sources of emissions that cause global warming within the next decade. The package says these goals can be reached by reached by a ten-year “national mobilisation” which include an overhaul in transportation systems to eliminate pollution and greenhouse as much as technologically feasible, repai

Connectivity is essential for the development of autonomous, electric and shared technologies, according to international media outlet Bloomberg. “Connectivity is at the heart of this as autonomous cars need high-definition maps that are connected through 4G,” said Phil Robinson, head of research and insight, EMEA Bloomberg Media. “For electric, you need to know where the next charging station is by being connected to the app while Uber users are connected to 4G or Wi-Fi to make it happen.” Robinson a