News

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has awarded International Road Dynamics (IRD) a five-year traffic data collection maintenance and upgrade contract valued at US$4.8 million. Under this agreement, IRD will install, upgrade, repair, operate and maintain the NYSDOT permanent data collection sites, the majority of which have IRD equipment, located in Metro New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and Westchester Counties. NYSDOT uses these sites to collect, summarise and interpret

The MOVE_UK project, recently announced by the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, is a consortium of companies that will help position the UK as a world leader in automated and self-driving cars. Led by Bosch, the MOVE_UK project benefits from a US$8 million grant awarded by InnovateUK and will see driverless technology trialled in real world conditions on roads in Greenwich, London. Project partners include Bosch, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (T

The Maryland Transit Administration is now in line to receive almost US$100 million to invest in 172 advanced clean diesel buses after receiving approval by the state’s spending board. The Baltimore Business Journal reported the new clean diesel buses will replace older vehicles – some which have been service for 15 years. The Maryland decision mirrors other significant orders of clean diesel and diesel-electric hybrid buses by transit agencies in major communities like New York, San Fran

The Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) have launched a world-leading programme to drive major improvements in safety across London's bus network, creating a six-point programme to reduce collisions and improve safety. The programme will bring together the newest technology, training, incentives, support, reporting and transparency right across the network, contributing to TfL's work towards meeting the mayor's target of halving the number of people killed or seriously injured on the capital's

Swedish network video supplier Axis Communications has acquired intelligent real-time video monitoring company Citilog, adding advanced surveillance technology to Axis’ product offering and expanding its opportunities in the fast-growing traffic analytics market. The two companies have worked together for several years to provide integrated solutions for mutual customers. Based in Paris, Citilog’s advanced video analytics and surveillance products are used to identify traffic incidents and deviations in

Drivers on the M1 near Wakefield will benefit from reduced congestion and improved journey times after the final phase of a new US$172 million smart motorway went live. The Highways England scheme along a seven-mile stretch of motorway between junction 39 and junction 42 is the first all lane running motorway in the north, where the hard shoulder has been permanently converted to an extra lane. The smart motorway uses the latest technology to monitor traffic levels and variable speed limits on overhea

The new i-Motors project, led by academics from the University of Nottingham’s Geospatial Institute and Human Factors Research Group and digital technology company Control F1, aims to build a mobile platform that allows vehicles of different manufacturers and origins to transfer and store data. The project, which has received a US$1.9 million award from the UK’s innovation agency Innovate UK sets out to establish a set of universal standards on how vehicles communicate with each other, and with other ma

Construction group Strabag, via its Polish subsidiaries, has been awarded two contracts totalling US$117 million by Poland’s General Directorate for National Roads and Highways (GDDKiA). As part of the overall works on the S17, Strabag will design and build a 15.2 km long section from the Lubelska junction near Warsaw to Kołbiel, including four junctions, while the second contract comprises the design and construction of an 8.7 km long bypass road near Kołbiel. The S17, which forms part of the E372, w

A new film from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) makes the case for making intelligent speed assistance (ISA) which can be overridden a standard feature on all new vehicles in Europe. The five-minute video has been launched as the European Commission continues work on the development of the next generation of vehicle safety standards, expected to be launched later this year. A major study for the Commission published last year by consultants TRL found that ISA is one of several new vehicl

Transport for London (TfL) has launched a new five-year industry-led programme to reduce the emissions of London's freight and fleet operators. The programme will work across the industry to increase the availability and uptake of low emission vans and lorries. It will bring together freight and fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers, fuel providers and the public sector. TfL says that 85 per cent of London's goods are transported by road and that freight makes up 17 per cent of London's road traffic.

Following its recent announcement of new directors Imtech Traffic & Infra has now announced its new name, Dynniq, which it calls a modern name to match its ambitions and focus on technology and innovation in three markets: mobility, parking and energy. The company has many years of experience in managing mobility and energy issues and is responsible for the delivery of several progressive projects, such as the intelligent intersections in Helmond, Netherlands where the traffic flow has been improved by

A recent report by US Volpe experts identifies eleven emerging technologies and innovative applications that may have significant impacts on our transportation systems within three to five years. The report, 2015 OST-R Transportation Technology Scan: A Look Ahead, identifies technological advances and innovative concepts, along with their associated benefits, challenges and risks that could fundamentally alter the transportation landscape:

In collaboration with Finnish plastics manufacturer Coreplast Laitila, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a reflector that can be wirelessly controlled via a mobile phone application. A traditional reflector, carried by a pedestrian and equipped with sensors, LED lights and wireless charging and communication, can be made to blink and alert vehicle drivers when the pedestrian is approaching a dangerous crossing. In the future, researchers say it could communicate directly with smart traf

Vehicles equipped with front crash prevention are much less likely to rear-end other vehicles, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has found in the first study of the feature's effectiveness using US police-reported crash data. The study found that systems with automatic braking reduce rear-end crashes by about 40 per cent on average, while forward collision warning alone cuts them by 23 per cent. The automatic braking systems also greatly reduce injury crashes.

British companies Westfield Sportscars, Heathrow Enterprises and Oxbotica have joined the GATEway (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment) project in Greenwich and are currently developing driverless shuttles for operation in Greenwich in summer 2016. Using entirely British engineering and software capabilities, the new consortium members will be developing the existing UltraPods currently in service at Heathrow Airport into fully autonomous and electric passenger shuttles. Operating at Terminal 5 for ne