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Part of a larger urban zone, the city of Darmstadt near Frankfurt, Germany, does not escape the problems of traffic congestion. In a bid to improve the situation, the city’s traffic authorities have installed more than 200 video detectors from Flir Systems, along with Flir’s video management system, Flux, which monitors the traffic streams coming from a wide variety of cameras. The city is also using various types of video sensors for vehicle, pedestrian and cycle detection, all of which are used to con

Autonomous vehicles are likely to increase insurance claims related to product parameters rather than driver liability New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Impact of Automated Vehicles on Motor Insurance Market, finds that motor insurers will move away from the driver-centric strategy to follow one or a combination of three models as automated vehicles become common: product-centric evaluation; brand-centric evaluation; system-centric evaluation.

Gulf Traffic 2015 is shaping up to be one of the largest ever, say the organisers, with floor space nearly sold out four months away from the opening date. Significant investment over the past year in the Middle East within the traffic management, intelligent transport systems (ITS), road safety, parking, road maintenance and transport infrastructure industries has been reflected in the growth of the exhibition, conferences and awards. The GCC is set to invest approximately US$121.3 billion to improve

WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff has been awarded a contract by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to serve as its ExpressLanes program management support consultant. Under the contract, WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff will assist Metro with project initiation, including planning and preliminary engineering; project and program management oversight; and public education, community relations and market research. The primary focus of the new contract is on studying possible extensio

Jenoptik Traffic Solutions is to supply the Austrian Freeway and Motorway Finance Corporation (ASFINAG) with its TraffiSection section speed control systems to improve traffic safety in Austria and regulate traffic jam situations, in particular in critical areas such as construction zones or tunnels. The company recently concluded new framework agreement ASFINAG for a five-year period, and includes mobile and stationary TraffiSection systems. Jenoptik’s laser scanner-based TraffiSection systems measur

Gatso Australia, a subsidiary of Sensys Gatso Group, has received an order worth US$6.2 million for traffic safety systems upgrade and services. The order is for the supply, installation and maintenance of 20 new traffic safety systems and includes the extension of maintenance services for existing systems. The supply and installation services are expected to be completed by the end of June 2016, while the maintenance contract services will extend until June 2018. Gatso Australia's managing director

The latest report from RnR Market Research forecasts the global collision avoidance system market to grow at a CAGR of 22.02 per cent over the period 2014-2019 The report, Global Collision Avoidance System Market 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the Americas, APAC, and EMEA; it also covers the landscape of the global collision avoidance system market and its growth prospects in the coming years. It includes a discussion

Japan-based Hitachi, Hitachi Automotive Systems and Clarion have developed the basic technology for preventing collisions while maintaining safe and practical speeds by predicting changes in pedestrian movements and rapidly calculating optimum speed patterns in real time. The companies claim to have verified the validity of the technology using experimental vehicles and determined that it can be implemented at safe and practical driving speeds. Going forward, the Hitachi Group will accelerate to further

Flir Traficon Academy has organised an informative webinar on 29 October that it says will teach participants more about keeping traffic flowing. According to Flir, one of the biggest challenges for ITS specialists is handling a wide variety of road users. For many years, dedicated detection solutions used to be required for a reliable detection of pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles. The webinar will show how Flir’s ThermiCam/TrafiSense sensor can be used for pedestrian presence detection, bicycle p

After three years, the Compass4D project is to continue its work on co-operative ITS (C-ITS), following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the representatives of the seven European cities of Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Helmond, Newcastle, Thessaloniki, Verona and Vigo. The consortium and its associated partners have decided to continue operating the C-ITS services, without EU co-funding, for at least one year with the ultimate goal of moving from pilot to large scale deployment for a self-sustaine

Researchers at Sweden’s SP Fire Research are involved in a project to develop safer battery systems for electrified vehicles, together with Atlas Copco, Chalmers University of Technology and Elforsk, with financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency. Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion) offer great energy and power densities accompanied with long battery life time. In an abuse situation however, e.g. in case of mechanical deformation or overheating, the flammable electrolyte of the Li-ion battery might pos

Scania recently unveiled a 28-metre bi-articulated bus with a passenger capacity of up to 270 people aimed specifically at the Latin American bus rapid transit market. The bus is powered by Scania’s 360 hp front engine, with bodywork by Brazilian bus bodybuilders Caio or Neobus. The bus is equipped with five doors for an efficient and smooth passenger flow and, despite its higher price tag, Scania calculates that the passenger-per-kilometre cost is 40 percent lower compared with a conventional articulat

Volkswagen will cut investment plans at its biggest division by US$1.1 billion a year and step up development of electric vehicles (EV), as it battles to cope with the fallout from its cheating of diesel emissions tests, according to Reuters. The German company also said it would speed up cost cutting at the VW division, its largest by revenues, and put only the latest and ‘best environmental technology’ in diesel vehicles.

The PTV Group has expanded its international business with the opening of a new branch in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to improve infrastructure usage of in the South American market through a local office. PTV, which has operations worldwide, including in Mexico City, Portland, Oregon and Arlington, Washington, sees the move as further strengthening its position in the American market. The group now has 14 branches and subsidiaries across five continents, and some 600 employees, generating a turnover of US$90

Singapore's Ministry of Transport (MOT) and Land Transport Authority (LTA) have unveiled plans to start trialling self-driving vehicles, claiming this is another step towards the country’s long-term vision of deploying self-driving vehicles and mobility concepts to enhance and complement its multi-modal land transport system. Self-driving vehicle trials have already commenced in a 200 hectare business park and are expected to start in another area in December. The tests will be carried out by the Institu