News

Software firm Sensible 4 and Japanese retail company Muji have joined forces to develop Gacha, an all-weather autonomous shuttle expected to operate in Finland by 2020. Sensible 4 is providing the technology for the vehicle’s positioning, navigation and obstacle detection. Muji is designing the vehicle. Gacha will make its debut at a launch event in Helsinki in March 2019, and will then be available to riders in three cities: Espoo, Vantaa and Hämeenlinna. Sensible 4 is now looking for industry partne

Intertraffic Mexico will highlight best practices from the traffic technology and mobility industry at an event which is expected to host 4,000 ITS professionals this week. Laura Barrera, director of Intertraffic Mexico, says the third edition will recognise companies and organisations that contribute actively to solving mobility challenges. "We want to highlight innovative projects in the industry, which is why we hold the second edition of the Intertraffic Award Latin America,” Barrera adds. In

Kapsch TrafficCom has acquired eTrans Systems, a Virginia-based provider of connected and autonomous vehicle (C/AV) solutions. Alexander Lewald, chief technology officer at Kapsch, says eTrans’ knowledge of embedded, mobile and Internet of Things technologies will improve the company’s offerings in the C/AV field. Kapsch will integrate eTrans’ on-board and roadside unit applications into its portfolio. These applications support Vehicle to Vehicle, Vehicle to Infrastructure and Vehicle to Pedestrian

Heliox has delivered a fast-charging network for electric buses operating in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in a bid to reduce emissions. The deployment supports the country’s stated ambition to gradually phasing out diesel-powered buses. Heliox’s OC 450 kW chargers are expected to provide Ekova Electric’s e-buses with ‘opportunity charging’, which allows batteries to be charged several times during the work cycle (usually eight hours). The company says the system utilises a pantograph to begin chargin

ComfortDelGro will trial an autonomous shuttle bus in real traffic conditions at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge Campus from March 2019.

Technology company Parsons has created a new role of chief development officer, with a focus on transportation. Mike Johnson, previously president of Parsons Infrastructure, will oversee sales of the company’s transportation management system, Intelligent NETworks (iNET). Johnson has been with Parsons for 28 years, and led the creation of the company’s connected cities solutions, Platforms as a Service. He is a member of the Energy Security Leadership Council and SAFE’s Autonomous Vehicles Task Force. In t

Conduent Transportation is to modernise the tolling system on ExpressLanes in Los Angeles County to help reduce congestion and improve safety along the I-10 and I-110 corridors. The eight-year contract is an extension to a six-year partnership with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority (LA Metro). The scope of the project includes the installation of overhead scanners and automatic vehicle identification equipment which corresponds with the FasTrak transponders installed on commuter vehicles.

UK drivers could earn £500 a month by making their idle vehicle available to renters on Turo’s peer-to-peer car-sharing service, the company says. Turo carried out a poll of 2,000 UK motorists which revealed the average Brit spends under nine hours a week behind the wheel. UK drivers also leave their car unused for three days each week, the company adds. Xavier Collins, Turo’s UK director, says many drivers spend a small fortune on cars but never realise their full potential. “For the vast majority of

Saber, a UK highway condition and inventory specialist, has developed skid analysis software to help reduce the risk of road traffic accidents. SkidAnalyser, part of a suite of software tools for managing highway survey data, is cloud-based and analyses information collected by Saber’s road safety vehicles. These measure levels of skid resistance in wet conditions. The company says the idea is to make raw data from surveys available within days of collection – and this can in turn alert highway auth

Allied Vision unveiled its Alvium cameras earlier this week at Vision 2018 in Stuttgart. These products are expected to combine the advantages of machine vision cameras with embedded sensor modules. The company says the cameras allow users to switch from PC-based image processing applications to embedded systems. Alvium cameras come with functions for image correction and optimisation, a selection of current sensors and intelligent energy management. At the Stuttgart show, the company also hosted a pres

McCain has appointed Fedrico Hormozi, a former senior manager for California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), director of its ITS solutions group. The firm says Hormozi’s team will deploy equipment, and carry out hardware and software systems integration as well as troubleshooting. Also, the team will provide input on new product design, development and functionality. During his 20-year career at Caltrans, Hormozi served in several senior management roles including chief of the ITS engineering a

Indian ride-sharing firm Ola has expanded its service to three cities in New Zealand and is offering passengers 50% discounts off journeys for the first month. The company says its app comes with safety features which will allow riders in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to share location coordinates with friends, family and emergency services. Passengers can also be picked up from Auckland and Wellington airports. Ola says it intends to improve the app based on customer feedback. It can be downl

The Regional Transportation Commission of South Nevada (RTC South Nevada) is offering employees at sports company Fanatics who work at the Northgate Distribution Center (NDC) cheaper rides via Lyft. RTC South Nevada is hoping that the six-month initiative will encourage workers to use multimodal options for commuting to the logistics and distribution facility in North Las Vegas. Fanatics was one of the first e-commerce tenants at the NDC in 2016. As part of the six-month programme, employees wi

Ertico-ITS Europe is inviting mobility professionals to submit papers for next year’s ITS European Congress in the Netherlands. The European Programme Committee wants papers for various sessions for the event in Brainport, which runs 3-6 June 2019. Experts are also invited to share ideas and discuss mobility challenges that cities face and how they can be addressed through ITS solutions. Draft papers should be a minimum of five pages for technical and commercial topics, and nine pages for scientif