News

Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK have found that millions of cars could be vulnerable to theft, due to a flaw in keyless entry systems in many models. The findings, presented at the 25th USENIX Security Symposium in Austin, Texas, highlight two case studies that outline the ease at which criminals could gain access to numerous vehicles with relatively simple and inexpensive methods. Both attacks use a cheap, easily available piece of radio hardware to intercept signals from a key

Police in Auckland, New Zealand, are to install new fixed speed cameras in Auckland and Northland as part of the New Zealand Government’s Safer Journeys road safety strategy. Police have worked in conjunction with the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and an independent transportation sector expert, Abley Transportation Consultants, to carefully select the sites based on crash risk. Together they developed the Static Camera Site Selection Methodology to identify locations on the road network that ha

Frankfurt airport in Germany has installed new intermodal displays in Terminals 1 and 2 to provide passengers and visitors with information for their onward journey. In English and German, the displays include departures from the airport’s railway stations, bus schedules, the latest highway traffic information and available car and bike-sharing options. In addition to real-time information on possible delays, the bus and rail displays also show the walking time to the nearest station. Car users can get

A US$2.5 million (£2 million) fund to allow councils to capitalise on emerging technologies and deliver better journeys for motorists has been launched by the UK Department for Transport (DfT). Local authorities have been to apply for a share of the money to develop projects to greatly enhance journeys. Proposals include using technology that will allow vehicles communicate with each other and roadside sensors to provide drivers with real-time traffic information. Councils will also look at how warnin

Queensland Police Service (QPS) in Australia is increasing the number of its vehicles equipped with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to enhance road safety and security on Queensland roads. QPS began trialling ANPR technology in 2012 to boost road policing enforcement and currently has just under 800 authorised ANPR operators across the state. As of the beginning of July, 60 vehicles have now been equipped with ANPR and assigned to work units including Road Policing Unit (RPU), Tactical Crime

The UK Department for Transport has issued its provisional estimates of road traffic in Great Britain for the year ending June 2016 by vehicle type and road class. These show that motor vehicle traffic was at a record high with 319.3 billion vehicle miles travelled, at 1.5 per cent higher than the previous year and 1.6 per cent higher than September 2007). Rolling annual motor vehicle traffic has now increased each quarter in succession for three years. Compared to the previous year, all road class

The latest executive speaker at the 23rd World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Melbourne in October has been announced as Kirk Steudle, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Responsible for Michigan's near 10,000 mile state highway system and 4,000 state highway bridges Steudle will speak at the Mobility as a Service session, on Friday 14 October in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Steudle brings a wealth of career knowledge spanning 40 years a

Iteris has added new pedestrian measurement capabilities to its advanced video detection platforms with PedTrax, which it says automates measurement of the count, direction and speed of pedestrians in crosswalks to provide insights on levels of street life. PedTrax provides transportation professionals and officials with data on foot traffic volume, direction and speed to optimise intersection signal timing and inform proactive improvements to signage and striping, intersection design, overpass locations

Sydney, Australia, has retired its last paper public transport tickets and completed the transition to the Cubic-designed Opal smart card ticketing system. Launched in December 2012, the Opal card system, which was designed, installed and operated by Cubic, is now used for 95 percent of all public transport trips. To date, customers have taken 800 million trips and more than 7.5 million cards have been issued. Starting this month, the old-style paper tickets will no longer be sold or accepted, markin

The latest national figures show that forces across the UK followed a targeted approach that saw an increase in alcohol tests showing a positive, failed or refused reading. While the percentage of drivers tested reduced, officers targeted drink drive hotspots using an intelligence-led approach. The figures show that a total of 45,267 breath tests were ministered; 4,539, or 10 per cent, were positive, refused or failed of total tested that were positive, failed or refused. A total of 279 drug field impair

Building on more than two decades of above-ground video detection experience, Econolite and Image Sensing Systems have introduced the Autoscope Vision detection solution, which delivers stop bar vehicle and bicycle detection, advance vehicle detection, bicycle differentiation, traffic data collection and HD video surveillance. Vision setup is simple and quick, and can be accomplished over the built-in local wi-fi, which can also support streaming video. Employing newly-developed, full-field-of-view objec

Five tolling agencies and a private firm have captured top honours in the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) 2016 National Toll Excellence Awards. Recipients of the 2016 awards include: Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise – I-4 Connector, which receives the Administration & Finance award, while the North Carolina Turnpike Authority receives the Customer Service & Marketing Outreach for its multi-agency interoperability capability. The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agen

Tesla is investigating the crash in Beijing, China last week, when a Tesla Model S in autopilot mode hit the side of a parked car. According to Reuters, Tesla said it had reviewed data to confirm the car was in autopilot mode, a system that takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions. Tesla also said it was the driver's responsibility to maintain control of the vehicle. In this case, it said, the driver's hands were not detected on the steering wheel. "The driver of the Tesla, whose h

The Jenoptik Group ended the first half of 2016 with strong performance in terms of revenue, earnings and cash flow. The Group’s revenue rose by 3.4 per cent to US$364 million (€326.8 million, up from the previous year’s US$352 million (€ 316.1 million). This was also the highest revenue posted by the company for a first half-year in recent years. In addition, development of business in the previous year was influenced by positive currency effects. A major contributor to growth was the increased demand

Five German towns, Hamburg, Munich, Ingolstadt, Düsseldorf, Dresden and Braunschweig are to become testing grounds for self-driving cars, Minister for Transport Alexander Dobrindt has told tabloid Bild am Sonntag. Dobrindt made the announcement at the start of a funding programme for automated driving, for which the Ministry of Transport will provide US$89 million (€80 million) in funds towards a research project by 2020. He said: “Automated driving systems are gradually taking effect. Automated braki