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Delphi Technologies is collaborating with TomTom on electronic and software applications designed to further optimise vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions through the use of real-time mapping data. Delphi says its Intelligent Driving controls will use the information to predict changing driving conditions such as traffic congestion to help shorten commute times. Mary Gustanski, the company’s chief technology officer, says the partnership will seek to integrate more information about a driver's route

Governments are “lagging behind” in developing regulations to ensure the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs). This was among the main messages from a key session at this week’s Consumer Electronics Event 2019 event in Las Vegas, US. Speaking during ‘Mobility and Connectivity Perspectives from the C-suite’, Joe Vitale, global automotive leader at Deloitte, said the company’s yearly consumer study has shown that more people feel getting into an AV is unsafe, which is in part due to the deaths caused b

Here Technologies is to integrate its navigation and location services with Amazon’s Alexa to offer drivers voice-first navigation. At CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Here announced that it would utilise Alexa Auto tools to keep drivers focused on the road while offering personalised guidance. Alexa will come pre-integrated with Here Navigation On-Demand, the company’s new navigation-as-a-service model which allows drivers to search for points of interest and access live traffic information. Additionally,

WSP has been appointed by the UK’s Transport for the South East (TfSE) to develop a transport strategy that will help unlock growth in the region. For the next 18 months, WSP will work with Steer (formerly Steer Davies Gleave) to develop a strategy up to 2050 in a bid to deliver increased productivity. Adrian Hames, director at WSP, says the company will use its future scenario toolkit to inform the modelling work needed to develop the new strategy. The transport strategy will consider environmenta

Scania is to deliver 741 Euro 6 gas buses to Bogotá, Colombia, in a deal which is expected to reduce carbon emissions by up 20%. This deployment serves as an extension to an initial order placed by TransMilenio for the procurement of 481 Euro 6 gas buses and is part of the city’s bus rapid transit (BRT) renewal programme. Masivo Bogotá will operate the 260 bi-articulated Scania F340 HA 8x2 buses across 18 stations on the Américas BRT line. Carlos Ocampo, Scania Colombia's managing director, says:

Road congestion and lack of infrastructure funding are among the main issues facing the transportation industry, according to the new president of the IBTTA. Chris Tomlinson, who is also interim executive director of the newly created Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority, suggested an absence of technological standards, particularly in the US, is also a potential problem. But along with “continued increases in congestion in our urban areas”, he points to opportunities. “We can see a convergence of t

Alstom is to supply vendor managed inventory (VMI) services to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) over three years to help improve passenger safety. The €50 million contract includes two-year exercisable two-year options. The deal serves as an extension to a 2013 agreement. Alstom says VMI has allowed SFTMA to carry out regular and predictive maintenance of its fleet as well as decrease inventory management costs and increase daily average car availability by 20% and mean distan

Chinese technology start-up Onemile has launched its electric scooter rental service which comes with a seating pad to help improve rider safety. The company’s Halo City scooters are available in Hawaii, Paris, London and Berlin. Onemile aims to offer its service at mid and long-term rental and says it will provide an integrated parking location and management system. It is not the only company looking to find new ways to improve safety for riders. In the US, Bird rolled out an app feature which a

Construction has started on the first phase of San Diego’s Downtown Mobility Plan to help improve safety for cyclists and scooter riders. The 9.3 mile section will feature two-way cycle tracks on major arteries and help provide safer passage from Balboa Park to the San Diego Convention Center. It will be painted green and be separated from vehicular traffic by parked cars, flex posts or grade variations. City mayor Kevin Faulconer says connecting popular destinations in downtown to surrounding neighbour

Jenoptik’s average speed control system has received type approval to be used in an 18-month trial on a stretch of highway in Lower Saxony, Germany. Jenoptik’s TraffiSection, which is laser-based, has been approved by PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) and is supported by the Ministry of Interior of Lower Saxony. From mid-January, the system will obtain data on drivers who exceed the speed limit on a 2.2km stretch of Federal Highway 6, south of Hanover between Gleidingen and Laatzen. Jenop

Jump, an Uber bike-rental company, has upgraded its electric bikes to include swappable batteries which it says can be changed within a few minutes. Riders can use a front dashboard underneath the handlebars to unlock the bike as well as a phone mount for easier navigation. The bikes now feature a retractable cable lock to offer riders more flexibility when locking a bike to a rack or structure, the company adds. Last year, Uber announced its plans to launch its Jump bikes in Seattle as part of a stra

Vietnamese firm FastGo has launched its ride-hailing, delivery and catering services in Myanmar as part of a strategy to grow its business in 2019. A report by The Saigon Times says the company intends to attract two million users and 100,000 driver-partners this year in Myanmar’s major cities and provinces. In the coming years, FastGo is expected to form partnerships in Myanmar and Vietnam to help make its services and products more popular. In October 2018, FastGo announced its plans to enter Myanmar

Keolis has launched a free electric autonomous shuttle service at the University of Lille in France which is operating on open public roads for one year. Two Navya shuttles are running on a 1.4km route in Villeneuve d'Ascq, northern France, which includes four dedicated stops from Monday to Friday. These vehicles will also provide connections to two the Cité Scientifique’ and 4 Cantons Stade Pierre Mauroy metro stations. This trial was realised through an agreement with the European Metropole of Lille.

Cubic has acquired US technology company Gridsmart Technologies in an $87 million deal and will use its video tracking solution to help reduce congestion. Gridsmart’s Bell Camera offers horizon to horizon tracking with a fisheye lens for intersection actuation, data collection and situational awareness. The solution is also expected to track vehicle trajectory from approach through the centre of the intersection to exit. The acquisition will also help advance Cubic’s NextCity vision of creating a smarte

Dutch identification technology company Nedap has launched two more cameras for its automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) platform. The advanced ANPR Lumo can be applied in challenging vehicular access control applications, including in regions with license plates that include different font formats. The ANPR Access V2 is the successor of Nedap’s ANPR Access, offering better performance while being fully compatible with existing installations, says the company. Both new cameras easily integrate