News

Alstom is to test its Aptis electric bus in a range of depots and urban environments in Spain as part of a six-week roadshow. The initiative will evaluate vehicle’s charging system, autonomy and its performance in traffic. It is starting in the Barcelona Metropolitan area this month and will continue in Madrid and Vigo in February. Altsom says the vehicle comes with two steerable axles minimise the turning radius and the footprint on the road while an automatic parking system reduces space for parking.

Israeli start-up Foretellix has received $14 million in funding to further develop a solution which measures the safety of autonomous vehicles (AV) in a range of scenarios. Foretellix says its coverage driven verification solution enables developers to test AVs in hundreds of millions of driving scenarios. Ziv Binyamini, CEO of Foretellix, says: “This funding will help us accelerate the industry transition from ‘quantity of miles’ to ‘quality of coverage’ and broad deployment.” The company then automat

Chinese property developer Evergrande has acquired 51% of shares of NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden) in a bid to help the smart car firm develop green mobility solutions. Evergrande’s business covers technology, real estate, health and cultural tourism. The deal is expected to help NEVS develop a second car manufacturing plant in Shanghai which will be used to develop electric vehicles and transport solutions. Currently, NEVS has a manufacturing plant in Tianjin, China, and Trollhättan, Sweden

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has launched a trip planner app in San Francisco to provide commuters with access to various transportation modes and information on service disruptions. The BART Trip Planner was developed in collaboration with HaCon – whose software processes transit data from more than 30 operators including buses, trains, ferries and cable cars. BART says the app takes walking, cycling and car routes and the state of traffic into account to give users a realistic comparison of their commu

International Road Dynamics (IRD) is to use weigh-in-motion (WIM) technology to help maintain commercial vehicle enforcement solutions in the commonwealth of Virginia, US, over a two-year period. The scope of the $4.2 million maintenance and support contract also includes the deployment of IRD’s road side and in-station electronics and computer systems. The company will also use automated vehicle identification equipment, variable message signs, vehicle tracking systems, overview cameras, vehicle dimensio

Security specialist Irdeto has teamed up with Access Co to develop protection for the increasing amount of personal data that is generated by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication. As cars are increasingly turned into open environments due to advances in connectivity, the threat of data theft has risen. Niels Haverkorn, general manager of connected transport at Irdeto, says: “We are partnering with Access to create a complete and secure ecosystem, which means that V2X communicatio

GMV is to upgrade the onboard video surveillance system for Spanish operator Seville Metro’s 21-train fleet. GMV says it will help improve safety for passengers and those outside the train, by recording and sending the video signal of all the train’s cameras to a control centre in Seville, the capital of Spain’s Andalusia region. The company will also replace the control centre’s back office software to allow operators to display real-time images of the different cameras, as well as track down and run rec

Ticketing specialist Masabi’s Justride mobile ticketing platform is to be incorporated into Japan’s transit market. The deal sees Japanese trip planner Jorudan integrating Justride into its transit apps. The firm will also use the Justride external orders API to deliver tickets to users’ smartphones when purchased through Jorudan’s transit search and travel planner websites. “The problems that mobile ticketing solves are universal, with transit operators from Kyoto to Kettering wishing to speed up

Transdev is to launch an electric and automated shuttle service by 2020 in France and Germany. The company is to integrate its autonomous shuttle transport and supervision system with a shuttle provided by the e.Go Moove joint venture – a partnership comprising e.Go, a manufacturer of electric vehicles, and chassis technology firm ZF. ZF will provide the shuttle’s electric drive systems, steering systems and brakes as well as its ProAI central computer – a system which acts as a central control unit with

GoTo Mobility has integrated its vehicle sharing technology platform with Moovit’s Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app to offer commuters in Israel with access to shared cars. The partnership is expected to allow GoTo Mobility customers in Israel such as AutoTel and Car2Go to display car-sharing services in Moovit’s app. GoTo Mobility provides a modular technology solution for one-way, free-floating or round trip corporate fleets and peer-to-peer car-sharing services. Moovit users will now be able to vie

US college and university students are being invited to submit their thoughts on the future of mobility in an ITS America scheme which offers a $1,000 prize. Submissions will be accepted until 14 April for the competition, which is sponsored by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). As well as the cash, the winner will get a paid trip to Washington, DC for the ITS America 2019 annual meeting on 4-7 June. They will need to write something on the topic: “How do you envision disruptive technologies impact

UK-based Swarco eVolt has named Anne Buckingham, former head of electromobility at Siemens, as head of sales – effective 11 February. Swarco eVolt, an electric vehicle (EV) charging business, also plans to launch a series of e-mobility products and services in 2019. It includes the release of new 100KW and 150KW versions of the Raption Rapid Charger, an all-in-one solution in which the power module is housed within the main unit. Justin Meyer, general manager at Swarco eVolt, says: “In 2018 we recorded a

Start-up Spark EV Technology has been chosen for the UK’s Intelligent Mobility (IM) Accelerator programme to further commercialise its artificial intelligence-based electric vehicle (EV) journey prediction software. The IM Accelerator, a partnership between Transport Systems Catapult (TSC) and Wayra UK, supports six start-ups in delivering solutions to improve the UK transport system. Each programme lasts for six months and is based in the English town of Milton Keynes. Spark’s journey prediction softwa

Traffic enforcement specialist Redflex Holdings says it expects no further legal action or new financial liabilities arising from investigations by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The action, which has rumbled on for several years, related to misconduct by former employees of US subsidiary Redflex Traffic Systems. The company signed a two-year non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the DoJ, which has now ended. Under the expired deal, the DoJ agreed not to charge the firm with any offence provided t

Traffic enforcement specialist Redflex Holdings says it expects no further legal action or new financial liabilities arising from investigations by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The action, which has rumbled on for several years, related to misconduct by former employees of US subsidiary Redflex Traffic Systems. The company signed a two-year non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the DoJ, which has now ended. Under the expired deal, the DoJ agreed not to charge the firm with any offence provided the