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Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has partnered with the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to create a commercial Hyperloop system. The project’s first phase will utilise a 10km track to create a legal framework to certify the system before extending to a broader network which will play a major role in connecting Europe and Asia, says Hyperloop. Volodymyr Omelyan, minister of infrastructure, says the technology will help the country create a smart and sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Transportation company Nauto has launched its Prevent solution to help eliminate distracted driving by alerting motorists when their eyes have strayed off the road for too long. The company hopes to reduce accidents and collisions - before the large-scale arrival of autonomous vehicles. A report by TechCrunch says the device will send a voice notification if motorists are distracted for more than five seconds and are driving at 60mph. An alarm will follow if the user's attention has not returned to drivi

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has entered an R&D agreement with the iMove Cooperative Research Centre to improve traffic flows in Melbourne, Australia. The $55m government-funded project will consider the interaction of all transport modes to identify blockages in the management of an integrated multi-modal system. The two-year initiative - called the Implementation of a Multimodal Situational Awareness and Operations Regime Evaluation Platform – sees CTS collaborating with the University of Melbou

Applied Information is to provide traffic signal priority for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) buses in a bid to make bus transit faster than car journeys in the city. Applied’s Glance Smart Cities Supervisory technology will be used at 23 intersections along Atlanta’s Campbellton Road Smart Corridor. The initiative, which also involves system integrator Temple, will be implemented between the Oakland City MARTA station and I-285 – an interstate loop which encircles Atlanta – and

Tolling specialist Q-Free is to provide cameras, sensors and services for vehicle and number plate recognition at various points on Norway’s borders from 2019. The two-year agreement with the Directorate of Norwegian Customs will also serve the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Norwegian Police. Q-Free estimates the contract will be worth 40-60m NOK (€4.2-6.3m).

Toyota Motor Corporation is investing $1 billion in Grab Holdings, the Singapore-based ride-hailing platform provider. Grab, which has merged with Uber in south-east Asia, offers services which use a variety of transport modes, from bicycles and shuttle buses to cars and taxis. The companies say Toyota’s investment means they will also “strengthen and expand their existing collaboration in the area of connected cars, to drive the adoption of new mobility solutions across south-east Asia”.

Parsons will implement its tolling technology along a key toll road in California. It will work on the Orange County segment of the four-lane, 18-mile 91 Express Lanes to improve services along the corridor. The company was chosen by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to deliver technical and operational services, including specifications development for toll and ITS, tolling-related planning and construction activities.

The General Assembly of the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) in Dubrovnik has expanded its board of directors to nine members. Jochem Herrmann (from Adimec) has been re-elected president and will serve another three years. Michel Ollivier (Tiama) has been made vice president and Dr. Jean Caron (Euresys) remains the association’s treasurer. New members include Dr. Dirk Berndt, business unit manager at Fraunhofer IFF, and Arnaud Destruels, European product marketing manager for Image Sensing

Swiss power and automation company Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) has deployed 30 fast-charging stations to Zurich to support the city’s transition to sustainable mobility. The Terra 54 stations will be implemented in central, publicly-accessible locations in the city and surrounding areas. ABB says the solution is suitable for charging electric cars, buses and trucks quickly to add range of 100-300km.

German tunnel sensor monitoring manufacturer DURAG has taken a 50% stake in the Austrian tunnel air and lighting monitoring company JES Elektrotechnik. JES, based in Hallein, Austria, manufactures and sells environmental monitoring solutions for transport infrastructure applications such as tunnels, underground car parks and road weather stations. JES also sells sensors from manufacturers such as DURAG. Its markets are mainly in German-speaking countries worldwide and it also carries out maintenance on b

The UK government has given the RAC Foundation £480,000 to lead a road casualty investigation with police forces. The trial’s dedicated teams will research selected cases to get a better understanding of the causes behind road accidents to help inform road safety policies. Under the agreement, the RAC Foundation will work with the Department for Transport (DfT), Highways England, Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency and the police.

Carmakers using the word ‘autonomous’ are lulling UK drivers into a false sense of security, says a new report. The warning from Thatcham Research and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) follows reports of drivers crashing because they are over-reliant on technology that is not fully autonomous. The partnership is now calling for manufacturers and legislators to clarify the capability of vehicles sold with technology that does some driving on behalf of motorists. Thatcham’s latest paper, Assi

The UK government has pledged £350,000 to the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety to run a competition for companies to develop roadside evidential breathalysers. Although drivers are currently tested at the roadside in some cases, the breath test there is only used as an indicator of wrongdoing. The government’s stated aim is to prevent offenders who are marginally over the drink-drive limit from sobering up before reaching the police station where they are tested for evidence in court.

Belgium company EIT Digital says its MyCarLot solution will help local governments plan parking policies and provide better services. The system is currently operating in Rennes, France, and uses real-time and forecasted parking data to address special needs like disabled parking or electric vehicles. MyCarLot is intended to help users find available parking lots in advance based on personal preferences and using predictive algorithms and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. Maurizio Griva

The city of Birmingham is home to the highest number of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) in the UK, according to new research: there were 12,247 licenced models as of Q4 last year, says number plate specialist Click4reg. Its analysis of the top 20 UK local authorities was carried out ahead of government plans to host a zero-emissions vehicle summit in September 2018. The event is due to focus on vehicle technology to tackle carbon emissions and improve air quality. The research showed that Peterbo