News

Improving the capital’s infrastructure, through Crossrail 2, a new runway at Heathrow and East London river crossings, is key to the city’s future success and ability to compete, according to the latest CBI/CBRE London Business Survey. More than eight in ten of London’s companies see Crossrail 2 as being central to the capital’s successful expansion. Meanwhile, a similar number of firms think sticking to the Government’s current timetables for building Heathrow’s third runway is vital to London’s attractive

VMS manufacturer Bartco UK will use Traffex 2017 to showcase its integration of ITS products which aim to increase road safety. The company is working with SRL Traffic Systems on the integration of its HD Quattro portable variable message sign (VMS) with temporary traffic lights, designed to show basic safety information during temporary traffic light installation and road works.

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Mastercard are jointly launching a pilot of account-based ticketing (ABT) for public transport, by allowing the usage of contactless credit and debit cards for fare payments. Commuters holding Singapore-issued Mastercard contactless credit or debit cards can apply to join the pilot via the TransitLink ABT Portal. LTA and Mastercard hope to attract at least 100,000 commuters to participate in the pilot.

Taxi drivers in Melbourne, Australia, have staged a ‘go slow’ during morning rush hour on one of the city’s busiest roads, Tullamarine freeway, in protest at changes to state government industry reforms that would regulate ride-sharing app Uber and scrap taxi licences.

Consistent expansion in the key emerging consumer and construction rail freight markets both in the latest quarterly and the accumulative annual Office of Road and Rail (ORR) figures, demonstrates confidence and the potential of the sector, according to Freight on Rail. According to the figures, consumer traffic¸ which has increased all year, grew over five per cent in quarter three compared to last year, setting a new record for the highest amount of freight moved per quarter since quarterly figures wer

The second edition of the Institution of Engineering & Technology's Local Authority Guide to Emerging Transport Technology has been launched in association with ITS (UK). The updated guide is targeted at local government officers, elected members and their consultants and aims to explain how technology can aid delivery of a range of policy objectives, from reducing emissions to assisting smooth traffic flows. It also features a variety of case studies, demonstrating how innovative technologies are alr

The European Union, International Finance Corporation, France’s AFD and African Development Bank have committed to funding of up to US$400 million for the US$1.1-billion project to construct the 77-kilometre tolled highway in Uganda, according to Engineering News-Record. The private sector will provide an additional US$300 million. The road will link the capital Kampala to the industrial eastern city of Jinja and is designed to speed up freight flow to landlocked Rwanda, eastern Democratic Republic of Co

Kapsch TrafficCom North America has been awarded a four-year contract to design and install an agency-wide transportation management software (ATMS) for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The new system will utilise Kapsch’s DYNAC software, enabling the Authority to manage ITS assets at its bridges, tunnels, aviation and port facilities, as well as the PATH rail transit system from any of its individual facility operations control centres (OCC) and the Authority’s Agency Operation Ce

A consortium led by services provider Amey and partners RACE, Oxbotica, Siemens and Westbourne Communications has published the findings of its research into public perceptions of driverless cars. The PAVE (People in Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Environments) project engaged with over 800 people face-to-face through exhibitions, street surveys and workshops with industry experts and 500 feedback forms were collected. The report, which was overseen by Westbourne Communications, indicates that most peop

The global smart transportation market is estimated to reach a market size of US$285.12 billion by 2024, according to a new study by Grand View Research. The growing number of on-road vehicles and the ineffective existing transport infrastructure will drive the need for an efficient management system. Favourable government initiatives toward building a better infrastructure and running the transport system smoothly are expected to boost the industry growth. Increasing investments in the smart city produc

Connected vehicle services provider Airbiquity will showcase its over-the-air (OTA) software and data management solution at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, Spain from 27 February to 2 March. During the five-day event, Airbiquity will demonstrate a connected vehicle service delivery capability which allows automotive manufacturers and tier 1 suppliers to remotely orchestrate and automate multi-electronic control unit (ECU) vehicle software updates and data collection, at scale, from the cloud. A

Spanish automotive vision technology company Ficosa is to join the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), an association of companies in the telecommunications and automotive sectors working to speed development and marketing of solutions to new connected mobility needs and autonomous vehicles. Ficosa will join companies such as Audi, BMW, Daimler, Vodafone, LG, Ford, Qualcomm, Samsung, Huawei and Valeo and hopes to play a key role in 5GAA to define the future of connected mobility solutions. 5GAA aims to

Global connectivity specialist Kymeta has successfully connected its 20 cm mTenna satellite antenna subsystem module (ASM) for the consumer connected car industry to the Intelsat satellite constellation. This test continues Kymeta's progress toward bringing high throughput, secure mobile connectivity to the automotive industry and follows the partnership announced with Toyota Motor Corporation in 2016. The test showcased that Kymeta mTenna technology for consumer vehicles could successfully connect to In

A new scholarship program has been launched by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) for current undergraduate students pursuing a degree in engineering; urban and rural planning; construction management; public policy/public administration or another transportation-related field. Each year up to two undergraduate students will receive a US$5,000 scholarship. Applicants are required to be enrolled in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited four-year college or universit

There is still time to submit papers for the 24th ITS World Congress 2017 in Montreal, which is hosted by ITS America will host the event from, 29 October to 2 November, with the theme of ‘Integrated Mobility Driving Smart Cities’. If you have undertaken research on an advanced ITS topic, the World Congress International Program Committee invites you to present your findings in Montreal by submitting a paper through the submission website. (link submission.itsworldcongress2017.org.) The Call for Spe