News

Swarco has deployed what it says is the most customer-friendly parking system in Linköping, Sweden. The system utilises Swarco’s latest solution in hands-free parking, SWAPPACCESS, which provides quick access to the car park via the integration of contactless cards and licence plate recognition. Drivers with a SWAPPACCESS account can download an app to their mobile phone which gives details of available parking spaces and provides contactless parking payment. At car parks with barriers, the licen

Around 90 ITS stakeholders participated in the fifth iMobility Forum Plenary meeting , which discussed the high level framework necessary to implement a roll-out of C-ITS and vehicle automation in Europe, the respective roles of business and policy makers in terms of infrastructure investments, data protection, communication efforts for public acceptance; and who should take the lead in which area. The meeting also debated the regulatory framework needed for global implementation. Opening the meeting, E

São Paulo state court TCE-SP has ordered a halt to the tender of São Paulo state's US$732 million project to build an underwater tunnel between the coastal cities of Santos and Guarujá. The project calls for the construction and operation of a 900 metre, six-lane submersed tunnel between Brazil's coastal cities of Santos and Guarujá. To be submerged at a depth of 21 metres, the tunnel would give the Santos port navigation channel a draft of 17 metres. Construction was scheduled to start in 2014 and c

The European Commission has approved US$332 million from its Cohesion Fund for five major projects to improve sustainable public transport services in the largest Polish cities of Warsaw, Łódź, Szczecin and Poznań. These investments aim to modernise the public transport systems in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way and will provide commuters and visitors with improved travel conditions, higher comfort and shorter journey times. They are all financed under the Polish Infrastructure and Environ

Announcing President Obama’s US$94.7 billion Fiscal Year 2016 budget for the US Department of Transportation, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, “Our budget proposal lays the foundation for a future where our transportation infrastructure meets the demands of a growing population and an economy that depends on the free flow of freight,” said Secretary Foxx. “This Administration is looking towards the horizon – the future – but to do this we need Congress’ partnership to pass a long-term reauthorisa

Jenoptik’s Traffic Solutions division is to participate in an 18-month Germany-wide section speed control (or average speed enforcement) pilot project. Jenoptik technology will initially be tested in Lower Saxony. Jenoptik will supply its laser scanner-based TraffiSection technology for the project in order to monitor the speed limit on a section of highway just under three kilometres in length on Federal Highway 6 south of Hanover. The system uses measuring systems and cameras installed at the entry an

London’s cycling revolution accelerated last year, with 2014 seeing new records for usage of the capital’s cycle hire scheme and overall cycling on the Transport for London (TfL) road network. Across the TfL road network, London’s main roads, cycling levels in quarter 3 of 2014/15 (14 September to 6 December) were ten per cent higher than in the same quarter the previous year and the highest since records began in 2000. It was the fifth record quarter in a row. By the end of 2014/15, TfL forecasts a 12 p

The webinar on 6 February from 1400-1500 CET, From Advanced Active Safety Systems to Automated Systems: From interactIVe to AdaptIVe and beyond focuses on the evolution from driver assistance systems to automated driving. This is based mainly on two large scale EU integrated projects: interactIVe and AdaptIVe. The webinar will discuss the interactIVe project, its objectives, main outcomes and lessons learned and provide an overview of the objectives and vision of automated driving functions that will be

According to Belarus official news agency (BelTA) the country is to expand its network of toll roads under the BelToll system by more than 300 kilometres in 2015. Belarus currently has 1,189 kilometres of toll roads. The five-year state program for the development and maintenance of roads states that by 2020 the toll road system will include 1,968 kilometres of highways. BelToll, a digital system designed to collect tolls by using short-range radio technology, went live in Belarus in August 2013. In A

Sustainable transport group Transport & Environment has welcomed the announcement by Violeta Bulc, the EU’s head of transport, of plans to develop a Europe-wide scheme to charge lorries and cars for using roads. Bulc stressed that the scheme would be optional, meaning that countries could opt out if they want to. She also emphasised that the fee should be based exclusively on the distance driven and should not be time-dependent, which would bolster more efficient use of roads. European countries curre

In a contract valued at US$1.8 million, Q-Free Netherlands is to supply Raytheon with automatic licence plate recognition (ALPR) systems for its Massachusetts Department of Transport (MassDot) all electronic toll system project in the US. The contract comprises Q-Free’s Intrada ALPR which automatically reads licence plate numbers from still images, together with Intrada VSR which identifies vehicles even if the licence plate is partially occluded, by matching the image to an earlier surveillance. The con

Manufacturer of emissions reduction systems, Eminox, is to take part in a US$4.5 million project to reduce NOx pollution in Hong Kong. The scheme will see buses retrofitted with the latest in emission control technology to help make Hong Kong a safer environment to live and work. Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department (EPD) aims to upgrade 1,400 buses with retrofit selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to dramatically reduce NOx. A pre-qualification programme is currently taking place,

A total of 20 new digital speed enforcement cameras are to be installed at 11 locations in Singapore from March until the end of 2015. Making the announcement at a news conference to announce annual road traffic statistics for last year, Deputy Superintendent and Head of Research, Planning and Organisational Development Weng Wanyi said: “Traffic Police hope that with the cameras and sustained engagement efforts, motorists will understand the importance of keeping to the speed limits, will enhance their o

On 30 January, security loopholes in BMW vehicles equipped with connected drive technologies were revealed. Believed to affect 2.2 million BMW vehicles worldwide, these flaws in the software allow thieves to unlock doors and track car data through a mobile phone without leaving a trace. The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has long advocated for secure, open networks for vehicle connectivity. Vehicle manufacturers have argued that only closed networks can be truly secure. In fact, the loop

US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has called for lawmakers to pass a multi-year infrastructure funding bill, saying the cycle of temporary extensions is killing states' willingness for road and transit projects. It has been ten years since Congress last passed a transportation funding bill of longer than two years. "Last year we sent Congress a comprehensive multiyear proposal, the Grow America Act, which included 350 pages of precise policy prescriptions and substantial funding growth, all foc