News

UK and US transport operator FirstGroup has placed an order worth US$102 million (£70 million) for 305 new vehicles, 87 per cent of which will be Department for Transport approved ‘low carbon certified’. First Bus estimates this will save 4 million kg of CO2 per year. The 2016/17 investment will bring the company’s fleet of low carbon certified vehicles to around 1,000, believed to be one of the largest in the UK, saving in total an estimated 14.5 million kg of CO2 annually.

Texas A&M University has announced plans to build a new research campus focusing on several new technologies, including driverless and connected vehicles, robotics and large scale testing, as well as smart power grids and water systems. University chancellor John Sharp announced the US$150 million investment in the centre that will serve as a hub to help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering a new path toward a college degree.

The IEEE has published is 1609.3-2016 Standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) - Networking Services, which defines network and transport layer services that support secure WAVE data exchange, including addressing and routing.

Sydney, Australia is to trial connected technology in a bid to tackle congestion by reducing the number of times trucks stop at traffic signals. Minister for Roads Duncan Gay says the technology should improve travel time at more than 100 intersections across Sydney, resulting in smoother overall traffic flow for all road users.

In the wake of low inflation and competitive pressure constraining tariffs, Moody's Investors Service expects that European toll roads and airports will benefit from healthy growth in traffic volumes in 2016, albeit lower than in 2015. Traffic volume growth remains critical to the credit quality and financial performance of toll road operators and airports.

Results from the recent TISPOL 24-hour speed enforcement marathon which took place on Thursday 21 April and Friday 22 April show that 22 countries were involved, 2,463,622 vehicles were checked and 122,508, or 4.97 per cent of vehicles checked, were speeding. Put another way, the results show that 19 out of every 20 drivers checked were within legal speed limits.

New technology emerging from the ACT could drastically reduce the amount of time that drivers in Manuka, Canberra spend looking for parking spaces. Australia’s ACT Government, in partnership with parking technology firm Smart Parking, has launched a 12 month trial of SmartPark, the real-time bay sensor parking solution, in the Canberra suburb of Manuka.

VW and Shell have united to try to block Europe’s push for electric cars and more efficient cars, saying biofuels should be at heart of efforts to green the industry instead. The EU is planning two new fuel efficiency targets for 2025 and 2030 to help meet promises made at the Paris climate summit last December. But executives from the two organisations launched a study on Wednesday night proposing greater use of biofuels, CO2 car labelling, and the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) instead.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission recently approved the purchase of new technology and software to replace the aging traffic counting system at the agency's 18 road bridges. The US$268,724 purchase of radar traffic counters, auxiliary system and software will be made from Signal Services of West Chester, Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania Department of General Services COSTARS Program. The Commission collects traffic counts to make data-driven decisions related to budgeting, maintenance an

Trust in automation technology is very much age dependent, as younger consumers have a notably higher level of confidence in the technology than their older counterparts, according to the J.D. Power 2016 US Tech Choice Study, which says trust in automation technology is a critical step toward the future of automated vehicles. The study was conducted in February through March 2016 and is based on an online survey of more than 7,900 consumers who purchased/leased a new vehicle in the past five years.

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is deploying Intuicom’s BroadbandPro enterprise management software state-wide in an effort to unify and centralise the management of their municipality based traffic servers and Siemens’ TACTICS central traffic management software.

Seval Oz, CEO of Continental Intelligent Transportation Systems will give the opening keynote to kick off the new venue for intelligent transportation and integrated mobility – ITS America 2016 San Jose – on Monday 13 June, 1000 PDT at McEnery Convention Center. Three out of every four cars around the world contain Continental’s solutions, products, and systems that make driving safer, more efficient, sustainable, and comfortable.

Germany has announced plans to motivate German citizens to buy electric and hybrid vehicles, say news reports, with a plan that the transport ministry hopes will boost sluggish electric-vehicle sales. The plan is expected to cost US$1.35 billion (€1.2 billion), with the government and automakers sharing the cost. Car buyers will receive a US$4,530 (€4,000) discount on electric vehicles and a US$3,398 ($3,000) discount on hybrids. The proposal also includes the installation of more charging stations

Nearly two-thirds of Americans would support the use of road-usage fee options such as vehicle miles travelled or mileage-based user fees to help fund transportation costs, according to a new America Thinks national public opinion survey conducted by Kelton Global on behalf of infrastructure firm HNTB Corporation. The survey, Transportation Mobility 2016, also found that close to 170 million Americans (69 per cent) agree priced managed lanes should be considered when making improvements to US highways.

UK electric vehicle (EV) charge point supplier Evolt, a Swarco company, has completed the installation of Cumbria’s first publicly accessible EV rapid charging network, which is now available for public use. Nine locations across the county now benefit from an Evolt 50Kw rapid charger that can charge an EV within 30 minutes.