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Kapsch TrafficCom says its modernised Austria-wide toll collection system for trucks over 3.5 tonnes allows enforcement to be carried out through a single gantry. Highway and expressway operator Asfinag is now using the Go Maut 2.0. The gantry will carry the radio beacons and cameras for number plate recognition as well as an optical vehicle classification system. The vehicle class and number of axles can be determined in free-flowing traffic using high-resolution video cameras and stereo video imaging p

Connected autonomous vehicle technology company Cohda Wireless has appointed Jochen Steinhauer as sales director Europe. He will work in Cologne, Germany, and report to vice president of business development, Bernd Luebben. Steinhauer has 20 years of sales and management experience in the technology sector and previously worked at Internet of Things company Telit Communications. He also worked with Swiss manufacturer U-blox for five years and held senior roles with Atmel and NEC Electronics.

Reliability is the key factor in people’s acceptance of autonomous vehicles, suggests a new academic study. Nine out of ten people said it was easy to use 2getthere’s Parkshuttle, operated by the Dutch municipality of Capelle aan den Ijssel. Four out of five respondents said the system - which connects Rivium business park and metro station Kralingse Zoom - is reliable, mainly because of its frequency and punctuality. The qualitative study from Utrecht University also focused on operational factors

Lufft says its new all-in-one weather sensor has a temperature accuracy of 1% and can be used to monitor smart city and smart home applications. The device is expected to cover ten measurement parameters simultaneously. The WS10 sensor comes with an integrated compass which enables a direction-independent installation to help it suitable for building management systems, the company adds. WS10 measures temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind speed and wind direction, precipitation intensity

The Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology) has developed a motorcycle probe vehicle to better understand the causes of motorbike accidents. The vehicle was deployed as a measurement method to evaluate popular motorcycle routes in Austria’s capital. Peter Saleh, road safety expert at the AIT Center for Mobility Systems, says: “Our aim is to give those who operate roads the precise information they need in order to reduce the danger in these areas efficiently,

Ordnance Survey (OS) will provide geospatial data to support the OmnviCAV project’s ambition of accelerating the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the UK’s roads. The £3.9m initiative’s aim is to develop an artificial intelligence-based simulation model for testing autonomous cars safety. The simulation model will feature a 32km circuit of Oxfordshire roads, covering rural, urban, main roads and intersections and will be used to create and run different test scenarios. OS’s role includ

UK manufacturer AGD Systems has upgraded its 318 Traffic Control Radar to detect stationary and queuing traffic. The company says the solution provides a cost-effective alternative for local authorities using in-ground detection from their road networks. According to AGD, the pole-mounted solution provides virtual loop detection with speed discrimination and can emulate two inductive loops to a range of 150m or provide lane-specific detection up to 40m for a range of applications. Additionally

Siemens temporarily replaced 34 traditional green man symbols at pedestrian signals in Manchester with special designs to represent Lesbian, Gay, Heterosexual and Transgender relationships. The initiative was carried out in support of the UK city’s Pride festival from 24-27 August. The four designs were manufactured by Siemens Mobility’s ITS business and were located on the junctions of London Road and Fairfield street Junction, Whitworth Street and Sackville Street and Princess Street and Whitworth

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor is investing $500m in Uber as the companies intend to combine their technology to develop an autonomous ride-sharing fleet. Through the agreement, Toyota will deploy a fleet of purpose-built Autono-MaaS (autonomous mobility as a service) vehicles on Uber’s ride-sharing network. The Autono-MaaS vehicles will feature Uber’s autonomous driving system and the Toyota Guardian automated safety support system. Toyota will also utilise its Mobility Services Platform, a core

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has won a five-year deal to provide multimodal transport management solutions in Sydney, Australia. The $35m intelligent congestion management programme contract with Transport for New South Wales (NSW) will “enhance monitoring and management of the road network across NSW”, co-ordinating public transport and providing real-time information about disruptions. Cubic – along with WSP, PTV, Mentz and Microsoft – will provide a technology platform which integrates the

German manufacturer Continental says its Ultrasonic Height and Pressure Sensor (UHPS) can adjust the height of commercial vehicles electronically to improve the efficiency of urban buses. The company says UHPS allows drivers to control the air springs when lowering one side of the bus at bus stops - rather than having to let the air out from the spring completely. UHPS uses ultrasound to measure the height and pressure in the air spring and sends the value of the electronic control unit, which automatic

Ericsson will modernise communication service provider Hi3G’s transport network with 5G routers in a bid to provide 1.3 million subscribers with a high capacity network in Denmark. The three-year initiative will start in the autumn. Through the agreement, Ericsson will implement its Router 6000 hardware and software as well as provide customer support. According to Ericsson, the Router 6000 responds to challenges of growing data traffic volumes and the increase in connected devices. Arun Bansal,

A joint team from the Universities of Texas, Wyoming and Kansas has won the first Transportation Technology Tournament organised by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The winning project set out to address what it called “non-recurrent congestion challenges” in Washington, DC, such as increased traffic on days when the Washington Nationals baseball team played at home. The team worked with the District Department of Transportation (DoT) to develop real-time traveller information systems to

Uber intends to focus more on its electric scooter and bike business as it says individual modes of transport are better-suited to inner city travel. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, believes users will make more frequent, shorter journeys in the future, the Financial Times reports. "During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-tonne hulk of metal to take one person ten blocks,” he says. Uber’s Jump electric bikes are now available in eight US cities such as San Francisco and Washington DC, and are

BYD has deployed the first e6 electric cars to provide a clean energy VIP taxi and car sharing service in Bangkok. The initiative stems from an agreement with the Land Transport Department of Thailand: 101 out of an intended 1,000 vehicles have so far been provided. BYD says its proprietary iron phosphate battery can re charge the e6 within two hours and allow the vehicles to travel up to 400km.