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French companies NAVYA and Keolis, in partnership with the city of Las Vegas, have launched an autonomous, fully electric shuttle trial the city’s new Innovation District. During the week-long pilot, the public will be invited to take free test rides of the driverless ARMA shuttle, which was developed by NAVYA in partnership with Keolis. It carries up to a dozen passengers and was designed for use by state and local governments and transit agencies and operators as an efficient, clean-energy alternative

According to a new position paper from the International Association Of Public Transport (UITP), autonomous vehicles (AVs) will lead to a dystopian future of even more private car traffic on the road unless they are put to use in shared fleets and integrated with traditional public transport services. The paper, ‘Autonomous vehicles: a potential game changer for urban mobility,’ indicates that, despite the risk of increased congestion due to car travel becoming even more comfort

TomTom introduced its real-time traffic service in Argentina and Colombia, increasing the coverage in South America to four countries and extending the global reach to 54 countries and offering up-to-date information on road conditions such as traffic congestion, roadworks and closures. The increase in countries has been aided by the continuous growth in the supply of GPS location trace information to the TomTom traffic fusion engine which has now exceeded 500 million smartphones, transport systems and p

The 2017 ITS European Congress will be held in the city of Strasbourg from 29 to 22 June. Under the main theme of ITS Beyond Borders, the congress will focus on the interoperability of transport systems in a cross-border region, the development of driverless vehicles and new services and products contributing to safer, more environmentally-friendly mobility. Organised by Ertico-ITS Europe, the conference will also host the Cross-Rhine Driverless Shuttle International Challenge, which is part of the F

The UK government has announced funding for a project that aims to develop a supply chain for the manufacture of hydrogen-enabled drivetrains for large vans and trucks. The funding, part of the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial, funded by the Department for Transport and the government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, will enable the development of a zero-emission drivetrain, which will be incorporated into a 3.5T van. The 1,000kg payload vehicle will have an approximately 200-mile range, in urb

As part of an ongoing commitment to safer cycling in New York, the Citi Bike program is installing a new safety feature, the Blaze Laserlight, on 250 bikes this winter, with the aim of making Citi Bike riders more visible to drivers and pedestrians. The light uses laser technology to project a bike symbol six metres in front of the rider and, unlike the standard beam of bike lights, is visible from various perspectives. According to Citi Bike, research on use of the Laserlight on London’s bike share f

Japanese car maker Nissan is to begin its first real-world demonstrations of autonomous cars in London in February. Passengers, including government officials and technical and safety experts, will be given the opportunity to experience and test the technology in a live environment in a modified Nissan Leaf. These will be the first demonstrations of Nissan’s autonomous drive technology on public roads in Europe and follows recent announcements that both the refreshed Qashqai and the new Leaf, both coming

Analysts at IDTechEx have issued a new report, Electric Boats and Ships 2017-2027 looking at this fragmented but often highly profitable and growing sector. It says there are already over 100 manufacturers of electric boats and ships. The report finds that the market for hybrid and pure electric boats and ships will rise rapidly to over US$20 billion worldwide in 2027 for non-military versions. The recreational boat market is the largest and fastest growing electric marine market in sales number, followe

PTV Group has announced the appointment of Dr Jaume Barceló, as strategic advisor to join a new group which will focus on developing the group’s next generation of methodologies and technologies for planning and optimisation. Barceló is the former co-founder of TSS and developer of Aimsun software. He is also Emeritus Professor at UPC Barcelona, Spain.

Bouygues Energies & Services (Bouygues) has been awarded a place on the UK Crown Commercial Service’s Traffic Management Technology 2 (TMT2) Framework Agreement, to supply a wide range of technology products and solutions. The agreement enables all UK public sector bodies to place orders for a range of TMT2 goods and services using the suite of contracts available. They can now purchase products and services directly using an online catalogue. Bouygues will deliver local, regional and national end-to-

US-based American Traffic Solutions (ATS) has appointed Bobby Neil as senior vice president of service delivery, with responsibility for ATS's service delivery organisation, which oversees construction, field services, mobile speed, call centre and violations processing. Neil's background includes more than 20 years of program and project management experience for public and private technology companies. He joins ATS from IO, where he was most recently vice president of global services.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has launched a video to assist drivers in navigating roundabouts in the state. The video instructs viewers how to use both single and multi-lane roundabouts whether in a vehicle, on a bicycle or on foot. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encourages implementing roundabouts as they have been proven to significantly improve safety and reduce traffic delays over traditional stop- or signal-controlled intersections. In conjunction with the FHWA'

Flir Intelligent Transportation Systems is offering a 45-minute webinar 19 January, Make your traffic run smoother, more efficient and safer with Flir ITS, which discusses its solutions help to keep vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles moving safely and smoothly. More information and registration is available on the Flir website.

Dirk Van de Meerssche, Cubic Transportation Systems’ (CTS) sales and marketing director of intelligent transport systems and tolling for Asia Pacific, has been appointed to the board of directors for ITS Australia. “Cubic is a part of ITS in Australia, making contributions across a broad range of areas from public transportation to traffic management as well as cutting-edge research and pilot programs, all helping to make our transportation networks smarter,” said ITS Australia CEO Susan Harris. “Dirk i

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has welcomed the US Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee’s confirmation of Elaine L. Chao as Secretary of the US Department of Transportation. During the hearing, Chao stated in her opening remarks that a challenge for the nation’s infrastructure is to, “unleash the potential for private investment in our nation’s infrastructure. As we work together to develop the details of President Trump’s infrastructure plan, it is impor