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Marysville has become the latest urban area to join DriveOhio’s programme to test connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs). The suburb of Ohio state capital Columbus has plans to equip 1,200 vehicles with on-board units as part of the AV pilot created earlier this year by state governor John Kasich. Columbus itself has just been the recipient of a smart cities award for its ITS programmes and is among several cities to have signed up already to DriveOhio, along with Athens and Dublin. “Self-drivi

Feig Electronic has deployed more than 600 radio frequency identification (RFID) readers in India to allow drivers to pay for tolls without stopping at toll booths. The delivery is part of the National Highway Authority in India’s (NHAI) Fastag programme, an open road tolling method that relies on open ISO standard RFID technology. In a statement, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways says Fastag enabled vehicles can pass through dedicated lanes without stopping at toll plazas on national highways.

Lens manufacturer Tamron and visions system integrator Macq have signed a deal to produce a new camera. Tamron is providing the lens, while Belgium-based Macq is providing the housing and the electronics boards – and will sell the camera as its own product. Powered by artificial intelligence, the traffic sensor can be used for all kinds of applications, Macq says. These include: traffic monitoring, automatic make and model recognition, speed control, parking and automatic number plate recognition.

Israel-based cybersecurity firm SafeRide Technologies has joined the Genivi Alliance in a bid to secure connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) from hacking threats. Genivi is a non-profit alliance focused on delivering open source, in-vehicle infotainment and connected software. Hilik Stein, chief technology officer at SafeRide, says the Vsentry cybersecurity software will be available on the Genivi development platform.

Keolis has launched an on-demand shared mobility service in Bordeaux, France, in a bid to reduce congestion and the impact on the local environment. The Ke’op service operates in a 50km2 area and provides connections to the public transport network of the metropole, including tram lines A and B. Jean-Pierre Farandou, executive chairman of Keolis, says the service should enable the company to meet the needs of transport authorities in areas where density does not justify the installation of major transpor

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app Cowlines is to be rolled out across 62 North American cities following successful trials in Vancouver, Canada. The app, developed by Greenlines Technology, is expected to allow citizens to select the greenest, fastest and cheapest route by combining all modes of transportation. Riders can calculate the total cost of the trip, the length of the journey and its carbon footprint. Cowlines aggregates all transport options and measures the greenhouse gas emissions based on t

Sixty years today, 2,300 drivers drove along an eight-mile section of road in England – the first motorway in the country. Opened in 1958, the Preston bypass – now part of the M6 - only had two lanes in each direction, with no safety barrier in the central reservation. There was also no technology – not even simple electronic signs. Highways England is pledging to celebrate the birthday by completing four upgrades on the M6 by spring 2022. The £900m project will add extra lanes and better technolog

Columbus, Ohio has been named City of the Year in the Smart Cities Dive website’s awards for its work on transit and electrification. The US city won the US Department of Transportation’s inaugural Smart City Challenge two years ago – and is rolling out a variety of smart city-related programmes. Smart Cities Dive said the city’s “biggest area of progress this year” has been its increased reliance on electric vehicles (EVs), including in its bus fleet and other government vehicles. City authoritie

Lyft, the ride-hailing firm which rivals Uber, has shown off the distinctive, pink-tyred bicycles which it is to use in its new bike-share programme. The company has completed its acquisition of US bike-share giant Motivate, which was announced in the summer, and will branch into two-wheel journeys soon. The company says this represents a “natural extension of Lyft’s vision to improve transportation access, sustainability and affordability”. Lyft says that 80% of all bike-share rides in the US were co

A project to avert transport chaos in hurricane season and a programme which led to a huge reduction in road crashes were among the big winners in a new US awards scheme. The US National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE)’s inaugural Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Awards were open to cities, counties, metropolitan or rural planning organisations, state departments of transportation (DoTs) and private companies. Patrick Son, managing director of NOCoE, says 60 entries high

Volkswagen (VW) says it will install more than 2,400 free electric vehicle (EV) chargers at 600 Tesco stores in the UK by 2020. The chargers, provided by public charging network operator Pod Point, will allow customers to use a 7kW charger and pay for a 50kW rapid charge at a cost which the company says is in line with ‘the market rate’. The chargers will be implemented at Tesco Superstores and Extra stores. Jason Tarry, Tesco CEO, says the deployment is part of a wider commitment to address environmen

Mobility operator Transdev and bike-share company Mobike will offer ‘free floating’ bicycles to local authorities in France in a partnership to provide residents with a ‘clean’ last-mile solution. Transdev says 70% of local authorities in France consider the development of ‘soft’ transportation modes as a priority in the transition to clean energy. The companies aim to market the Mobike bicycles in more than ten authorities over the next year. Richard Dujardin, general manager of Transdev France, says:

Quantum XYZ is seeking to use SureFly’s eight-rotor hybrid ‘octocopters’ to launch an air taxi service in Los Angeles. SureFly, a subsidiary of US technology company Workhorse, is currently pursuing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification for its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Quantum intends to submit an application to become a FAA-certified urban VTOL air carrier. The company’s president, Tony Thompson, says: “Once SureFly receives FAA Type certification, we

Quantum XYZ is seeking to use SureFly’s eight-rotor hybrid ‘octocopters’ to launch an air taxi service in Los Angeles. SureFly, a subsidiary of US technology company Workhorse, is currently pursuing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification for its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Quantum intends to submit an application to become a FAA-certified urban VTOL air carrier. The company’s president, Tony Thompson, says: “Once SureFly receives FAA Type certification, we

Kirk Steudle, former director of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDoT), has been nominated to receive the IRF Man of the Year award. Established in 1951, IRF's Man (Woman) of the Year award recognises public, private and education sector professionals with an outstanding track record of leadership and commitment to the road transport industry. Abdullah A. Al-Mogbel, chairman, IRF, says: "This accolade crowns an exceptional career and a highly respected voice on innovation in transportation, at