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“America will never have the infrastructure system it needs and deserves if we don’t do a better job of incorporating technology,” said leading Republican Sam Graves. He leads the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the US House of Representatives and made the comments this week at a hearing entitled ‘The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why Investing in Our Nation’s Infrastructure Cannot Wait’. Ranking member Graves said: “Compared to other countries, our infrastructure is falling behind, and in so

The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) in Florida trialled connected vehicle technology which it says could lead to collision avoidance in real life. The test was carried out as part of the THEA Connected Vehicle (CV) pilot, an initiative which relies on wireless communication between onboard units that have been mounted on poles along the Slemon Expressway and throughout downtown Tampa. A special rearview mirror was installed in eight vehicles to display safety alerts to drivers. The ve

Cotares, which specialises in software for navigation and mapping, has added a tool to encourage the development of smart parking solutions to its public developer site. The firm says Parking Tours is designed for the developers of route finding and guidance systems to change their offering from ‘A-to-B’ into ‘A-to-park-near-B’ where on-street parking is available. The company suggests that route guidance can be augmented by an optimised parking search (a ‘Tour’) that adapts to driver preferences, parking

UK train and bus company Go-Ahead is to use Dovu’s blockchain-driven reward platform to gain more data on its passengers. The scheme will be rolled out initially on Go-Ahead’s Thameslink and Southern Rail train services and offers passengers using the Dovu platform the chance to earn cryptocurrency when they share their travel information. This will be used to help them make changes to their travel behaviour, the companies say. Among other things, Dovu aims to encourage the use and sharing of tran

The UK government has signalled that it is ready to allow autonomous vehicles (AVs) with no driver to be tested on public roads. It is already committed to having fully self-driving vehicles on UK roads by 2021. At present, operators are legally required to test AVs only when “a driver is present, in or out of the vehicle, who is ready, able, and willing to resume control of the vehicle”. But the Department for Transport (DfT)’s updated code of practice on trialling AVs on public roads - as opposed t

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver, Colorado, has entered into an agreement which will allow its riders to view transit routes within Uber’s app. RTD says the collaboration will allow commuters to plan their travel with additional first/last mile options. Riders can select the app’s ‘Transit’ option to see available routes, real-time schedules and walking directions to and from stations. Looking ahead, the partnership intends to allow riders to purchase RTD tickets via the app,

Blockchain technology will not break through into the mainstream of the British transportation sector during 2019, according to Fujitsu. Blockchain has been touted as the solution to a number of transportation issues, but Chris Patton from Fujitsu’s EMEIA transport team urges caution. While acknowledging that the technology holds ‘exciting’ operational and commercial potential for the public transport sector, he says: “The key word there, though, is potential. While it is undeniable blockchain will ma

Lime’s scooters and warehouses in France will be powered by local, solar and small hydro projects in a bid to advance clean micro mobility in Europe, the firm says. The move stems from a three-year agreement with Planète Oui, an electricity provider which supplies 100% local and renewable energy. As part of the deal, Lime’s ‘Juicer’ partners which join Planète Oui will receive a free three-month subscription to the service and an additional 20% discount on their monthly subscription thereafter. J

Will Mobility as a Service (MaaS) destroy public transport as we know it? That’s the question representatives from the taxi, bus, rail and multi-modal sectors will consider in ‘The role of vertical transport providers’, the opening session of the 2019 MaaS Market Conference (London, 20-21 March). Amid growing evidence of traditional transport operators losing out to the new mobility providers, particularly in urban areas, the panel session will debate the potential and actual benefits and pitfalls of par

Lucid Vision Labs has launched four Triton GigE vision cameras which it says can be used for ITS applications and traffic systems due to its IP67 protection rating. The cameras, which feature an interface for long cables up to 100m, come with M12 Ethernet and M8 I/O connectors to provide a robust connection resistant to shock and vibration - and also protected from dirt, dust and water. Also, the range is expected to offer an operating temperature ranging from -20°C to 55°C ambient to help ensure reliab

Iteris has opened a new regional office in the Chicago metropolitan area (Chicagoland) as part of an expansion in the US Midwest region. The company says it is driven by additions to various projects, which will start imminently, including the expansion of traffic signal system management services in the City of Omaha. Iteris says it is also deploying its intersection-as-a-service platform to the Kane County Department of Transportation, as well as a mobile workzone connected vehicle application for t

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT) is to create a taskforce which will coordinate all ongoing connected and autonomous vehicle (C/AV) projects in the US state. The C/AV task force is being set up in order to document public and private C/AV efforts, facilitate partnerships, host industry forums and help encourage greater collaboration. James Bass, TxDOT executive director, says: “Our goal is to further build on the momentum already established with the Texas Technology Task Force and th

Taxi-hailing giant Uber is suspending its service in the Spanish city of Barcelona. The move comes after new regulations were passed by local authorities, according to Reuters. The company started its UberX service in the city last year. But from now on, passengers using ride-hailing services will have to wait at least 15 minutes after booking a ride before they can be picked up – thus negating one of the key selling points of companies such as Uber. Speed and convenience – as well as cost – are w

Teledyne Dalsa has launched a vision system which it says offers cost savings for multi-camera vision applications such as final inspection of large assemblies. The Geva 400 system features four Power over Ethernet compliant Gigabit camera ports are compatible with a range of cameras, including Teledyne’s Genie Nano GigE. Users can add cameras with commercially available network technologies to allow for large configurations at lower systems costs. Geva 400 comes with Intel quad-core Atom architecture a

Continental has secured a follow-on order for future metro projects in the Chinese city of Shanghai to help increase usage of rail and reduce gridlocks on roads. The project will expand the metro network from 16 to 22 lines by 2020 and cover an area of 970km. Jianhua Hao, head of marketing & sales at Continental China, says the company’s new air spring systems will allow metro trains to travel more quietly and with lower vibration levels.