News

ITS Australia, host of the National electronic Tolling Conference (NeTC), has confirmed New South Wales Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight, Melinda Pavey will participate at this year’s event and will make an official address at the Conference Dinner in Sydney. The two day annual NeTC Forum takes place in Sydney on 23-25 May, themed Converging Smarter Tolling Technologies and is the main road tolling event in Asia Pacific and will feature more than 40 Australian and international speakers. ITS Austral

Transport for London (TfL) has appointed the Centrica Consortium, BluepointLondon, Chargemaster, Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and Fastned to provide the rapid charging points that the capital needs for electric vehicles. They will fund, maintain, operate and install the network. The first charge points are expected to be operational within a few months and will power vehicles in close to 30 minutes, compared with the three to four hours when using a standard unit. The initial aim is to see 75 charging poi

TomTom Telematics and BP have joined forces to offer businesses a fuel and driver management solution, BP FleetMove, combining fuel transaction information from BP fuel cards with driver behavior data from the TomTom Telematics Service Platform in one, easy-to-use interface. This new collaboration uses the plug and play TomTom CURFER connected car product, an app working in conjunction with the TomTom LINK 100 dongle, which plugs into the vehicle’s OBD port to wirelessly connect car and smartphone. It is de

With two events in one month, Intertraffic is introducing a number of new initiatives during Intertraffic China and Intertraffic Istanbul. Intertraffic China takes place from 4-6 May in Shanghai followed by Intertraffic Istanbul from 24-26 May at the Istanbul Expo Center. Organised by RAI Amsterdam together with its regional partner Transport Technology Exchange Center (TTEC) and ITS China, this year’s Intertraffic China will occupy two halls at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center (SNIEC) with

Former Google self-driving car company Waymo has launched the first public trial of its cars, in the Phoenix area of Arizona, where residents can apply to join the early rider program. The company will provide access to its fleet to people with diverse backgrounds and transportation needs who want to ride in and give feedback about its self-driving cars. Early riders will play an important role in shaping the way Waymo introduces its self-driving technology, via personal cars, public transportation, ride-ha

The UK Department for Transport has announced a funding competition which will provide up to US$602,500 (£470,000) for innovative projects that lead to more walking and cycling. Proposals will tackle current barriers and encourage more journey stages to be made by bicycle or on foot. Innovations may include, for example, technology, infrastructure, manufacturing or behavioural change. The competition is open to individuals, groups and organisations. It is particularly suitable for early-stage, small and med

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has announced its support of a move by the Australian Government to award iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) a US$41 million (AU$55 million) 10-year grant to develop future technologies for smart transport and mobility in Australia. iMOVE CRC is a collaborative consortium of industry and technology innovators as well as government and academia. As part of the CRC, Cubic aims to address the lack of coordination between the various transport systems through the developm

ITS (UK) has held its first forum on the topic of Mobility as a Service (MaaS), simultaneously launching a new interest group dedicated the subject. The organisation has identified MaaS as a key deliverable of ITS technologies and, although many of the concept’s constituent parts, such as connected vehicles, local authorities, road user charging and public transport, are covered by other working groups, ITS (UK) feels there is a demand for specific meetings to discuss and develop MaaS in the UK. The initial

A new report by independent think tank the Green Alliance claims that the UK government will have problems if energy systems are not improved to take account of developments in solar panels, onshore wind, electric vehicles (EVs) and battery storage. It says people are increasingly choosing to be energy owners and are able to take back at least some control over energy production. The report states, “Politicians are arguing over whether or not to subsidise renewables without seeing how technology has changed

The European Commission is aiming to cut road transport’s CO2 emissions and is proposing to introduce toll charges based on a vehicle’s emissions, according to Reuters. The proposal, which is expected to be published at the end of May, will also include buses and coaches as well as a requirement for motorists to pay according to the distance travelled. The proposal will keep the average level of tolls collected roughly constant, meaning more polluting vehicles will pay more while cleaner ones will pay less.

Electric charging technology specialist ABB has won a contract to supply three HVC 300P electric bus charging stations for a fleet of Volvo electric buses that will be operated in Harrogate, UK by Transdev Blazefield from 2018. ABB will also supply an electricity substation for installation at a bus station serving the town. The project will use OppCharge for ‘opportunity charging’, where buses are charged while they wait at bus stops at the end of the line equipped with fast-charging infrastructure. The bu

A National Safety Council review of motor vehicle crash reports from across the US found no state fully captures critical data needed to address and understand the rise in roadway fatalities. Crash reports from all 50 states lack fields or codes for law enforcement to record the level of driver fatigue at the time of a crash, while many others lack fields to capture texting, hands-free cell phone use and specific types of drug use if drugs are detected, including marijuana. Excluding these fields limits the

A new report by MarketsandMarkets estimates that the Internet of Things (IoT) fleet management market will grow fromUS$3.16 billion in 2016 to US$8.28 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 21.26 per cent. According to the report, the key factors driving the growth of the IoT fleet management market are increased demand for optimised business operations, real-time fleet monitoring and a growing number of government mandates for fleet safety. Routing management accounted for the largest share of the IoT fleet managem

The UK government has published its US$1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) long-term plan to make cycling and walking the natural choice for shorter journeys. The government wants cycling and walking to become the norm by 2040 and will target funding at innovative ways to encourage people onto a bike or to use their own two feet for shorter journeys. Plans include specific objectives to double cycling, reduce cycling accidents and increase the proportion of five to 10 year-olds walking to school to 55 per cent by 20

Nominet, the Oxford-based internet company responsible for the smooth and secure running of the .UK internet, has announced its involvement in driverless car trials between London and Oxford. The project, run by the DRIVEN consortium and led by Oxbotica, is one of the first trials of Level 4 autonomous vehicles in the UK, where the driver does not need to watch the road or hold the steering wheel. The trial explores the real-time assessment frameworks essential for the legal and safe use of automated vehic