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Automaker Ford has said it is developing technology which detects the presence of potholes and alerts drivers to their location. Engineers at the Ford Research and Innovation Centre in Aachen, Germany, are experimenting with a crowd-sourced virtual pothole map, with testing due to start later this year. The map would show drivers, in real-time, on in-car displays, where potholes are, how bad they are and suggest alternative routes. “A virtual pothole map could highlight a new pothole the minute it ap

International technology company Thales, as part of a French consortium including Alstom and Colas Rail, is to provide a complete telecommunications system for Line 3 of the Hanoi metro, the first of five lines planned for the Vietnamese capital. Hanoi’s metro project plays a crucial role in relieving congestion and improving road safety for the city’s 7.5 million inhabitants. Under the urban transport master plan adopted by the city several years ago, five metro lines are due to be built by 2030. Th

The latest Inrix Traffic Scorecard, which analyses and ranks the impact of traffic congestion in 1,064 cities across 38 countries worldwide, indicates that Moscow topped the list as the most congested in Europe, where drivers spent 91 hours in 2016 in traffic congestion at peak hours. Of the 628 European cities analysed, drivers in Moscow spent over 25% of their total drive time (peak and non-peak hours) in congestion. London (73 hours) is second in the list of Europe’s most congested cities, followed by Pa

Ford has denied reports quoting the company’s executive vice president of product development and chief technical officer, Raj Nair, as saying that its engineers were falling asleep while testing autonomous vehicles, although it has confirmed that it will not offer SAE Level 3 vehicles. “These are trained engineers who are there to observe what’s happening,” Nair told Bloomberg. “But it’s hu

Jenoptik Traffic Solutions UK is taking advantage of Traffex 2017 to introduce its new Vector SR new spot speed and red light system, alongside a full range of advanced ANPR solutions. The company will also be showing a wide range of current and future technologies, including Specs3 Vector average speed enforcement and the Vector automatic number plate recognition. In addition, following the recent acquisition of Essa Technology, Jenoptik will also be demonstrating the powerful back office software to

From 2018, 2GetThere’s ParkShuttle autonomous vehicle, which has been operated by Connexxion at the Rivium business park in Capelle aan den IJssel in the Netherlands since 1999, will begin operating on public roads without a driver or supervisor. The vehicle currently carries over 2,400 passengers daily and is expected to expand under plans to extend the route to Erasmus University and Feyenoord City, the new stadium of Rotterdam-based football team.

Skyline Products has installed ten new custom-made Skyline signs at Denver International Airport (DIA) to help manage parking traffic more effectively at the airport’s covered garages and support greater flexibility for parking operations in the future. Designed specifically to meet the airport’s needs, the solution included full colour, full matrix, 20mm LED signs, which are fully NTCIP compliant and allow for MUTCD graphics. In addition to communicating parking spot availability numbers for each park

The launch of autonomous vehicles and a host of electronic components render the current 12-volts (v) battery nearly unusable, says a new report by Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Analysis of the Global 48v Power-net Market. To meet stringent global emissions regulations and offer a basic semi-autonomous system, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must electrify components while offering a bigger source of power. Therefore, OEMs plan to migrate to a 48v power-net and use two voltages. Heavy-duty, power-h

Transit Windsor in Ontario, Canada has begun the testing phase of its new intelligent transportation system (ITS) as part of an ongoing effort to create a more efficient, safer and more user-friendly public transit system. Currently, ten Transit Windsor buses are equipped with the new system and providing automated stop announcements. This system provides onboard voice and visual announcements, which include next stop messages. Voice announcements are coordinated with display signs inside the bus. Pre-b

FIA Region I has welcomed the European Commission’s plan to revise and merge the road infrastructure safety management directive and the directive on minimum safety requirements for tunnels since many of the problems that road users face today are linked with poor maintenance of road infrastructure. FIA Region I believes that road management authorities should be obliged by the EU and member states to ensure a minimum level of road maintenance. A well-developed and maintained road network enables safe, e

GE Transportation and Transnet, Africa’s rail and ports operator, have announced a digital partnership to seamlessly connect shippers and transport operators, in a bid to make it easier for a company to understand pricing and capacity on the network, plan a shipment and get their goods to market. The solution will be enabled by Predix, the operating system for the industrial internet and will connect shippers and transport operators by providing real-time, data-driven insights on the status of shipments.

Decarbonisation of commercial road transport and logistics should be linked to safety improvements and efficiency gains if the ambitious EU CO2 emissions reduction targets are to be met, according to a major new report on the future of commercial road transport in the EU, published by world transport organisation IRU. The report, Commercial Vehicle of the Future, claims measures to decarbonise road freight transport could provide new opportunities to further improve road safety and optimise operational e

Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) is to implement its Opticom traffic pre-emption solution at nine of the busiest intersections in the city of Inglewood in California. Opticom works alongside intersection controllers to help ensure emergency vehicles can move through intersections rapidly and safely, and public transit vehicles can avoid delays and adhere to schedules. When an emergency vehicle needs to navigate an intersection, the Opticom system on-board the vehicle sends a request to the intersect

The New Zealand government has confirmed that it is considering the introduction of open road tolling in Auckland. Finance minister Steven Joyce told a business audience the government could support tolling but would not support a regional fuel tax. He said, “There is no getting away from the fact that central Auckland is built on a narrow isthmus which makes it hard to get around – and the available land transport corridors are rapidly being used. “So beyond the current building programme we are g