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Swiss based u-blox has acquired the automotive-grade Bluetooth and wi-fi module products of Lesswire, a subsidiary of the PRETTL group. Founded in 1999, Lesswire provides robust vehicle-ready short range wireless communication modules to Tier-1 automotive electronics suppliers in Europe and Asia.

Future highways will be made from self-healing, glow-in-the-dark materials and will be governed by sophisticated technologies that communicate with cars, road infrastructure and GPS systems, according to the Future of Highways report from global engineering and design consultancy, Arup.

Variable message signs have been installed on the Danish E20 highway between Odense and Copenhagen to give truck drivers real-time information on available parking areas. The highway, part of the Scandria corridor, carries some of the highest commercial vehicle volumes and connects capitals and metropolitan regions along the shortest route from Scandinavia via Central Europe to the Adriatic Sea. In the interests of road safety, truck drivers must adhere to strict travel and rest times.

TomTom’s Telematics business has acquired Fleetlogic, one of the leading fleet management service providers in the Netherlands, which the company says strengthens TomTom Telematics’ position as the market leader in the Netherlands and in Europe. The acquisition includes the companies TripXs and Inalise and adds 27,000 subscriptions to the TomTom Telematics installed base. The total installed base of TomTom Telematics now consists of more than 450,000 vehicles. "The fleet management market in the Net

European companies which have shared CO2 data and information on policies, strategy and intentions to reduce CO2 emissions from transport operations have been awarded the ‘first leaf’ by Green Freight Europe (GFE). The award is part of a four-tier labelling program by GFE that recognises and benchmarks members based on their efforts and measures to further improve on CO2 reduction. Heineken, IKEA, DHL, Hewlett Packard, Proctor and Gamble, TNT Europe, UPS and P&O Ferrymasters were among the first recipien

The EU's TEN-T Programme is to provide around US$500,000 to support preparatory and design studies for a network of safe and secure parking areas for truck drivers in Campania, Calabria and Sicily. The drivers will be able to pre-book parking and get reliable online information with the help of an integrated information service. The studies will be carried out in two phases. A preparatory study will identify the existing parking areas with the capacity for easy upgrade and potential new sites, while the

Co-hosted with ITS Pennsylvania, ITS America’s 25th Annual Meeting and Exposition takes place in Pittsburgh on 1-3 June 2015 and is expected to attract more than 2,000 top transportation and technology policy-makers, innovators and engineers, investors, researchers and business leaders. The call for papers is now open and the ITS America Annual Meeting Program Committee is looking for high-quality papers for the technical program, ‘Bridges to Innovation’. The eight main program topics are: Safety; Sustai

Toyota Motor Corporation is to launch a newly-developed set of active safety technologies from 2015. These are designed to help prevent or mitigate collisions across a wide range of vehicle speeds and will be offered in the form of two Toyota Safety Sense packages, to be rolled out across most passenger models and grades in Japan, North America and Europe by the end of 2017. Both packages will be made available at price levels chosen to encourage widespread use. Two packages will be available depending o

Colombia's government has received two economic bids for the US$160 million Ernesto Cortissoz airport concession in Barranquilla. Consortium Aeropuertos Colombia, comprising Valorcon, Equipo Universal and Inversiones Millenium Azipo and Consortium Estructura Plural Pavimentos Colombia y Graña y Montero which includes Pavimentos Colombia SAS and Graña y Montero (Perú), both bid US$27 million for the tender. Airport works include the refurbishment of the runway and taxiways; construction of a perimeter

China is to launch a national unified electronic toll collection (ETC) system in 2015 in a bid to solve freeway congestion, save logistics cost and cut emissions. The national ETC network will be primarily completed by the end of 2015 based on a regional system that will cover 14 provinces by this year end, said Xu Chengguang, spokesman of the Ministry of Transport (MOT). The ministry expects around 25 percent of passenger cars to be equipped with transponders and all toll stations along major express

New York State’s Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) Board of Directors is to roll out a real time passenger information (RTPI) pilot program for its fleet of fixed route buses, using automatic vehicle location (AVL) software to determine bus location and speed. Customers will be able to access real time transit information for CDTA fixed route services through the free CDTA iride mobile application for Apple and Android devices, through Google Maps’ mobile apps and maps.google.com, through

An ambitious US$23.5 billion plan to triple levels of spending by the end of the decade to increase the capacity and condition of England’s roads was announced to Parliament today by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. The government is investing in more than 100 new road schemes over this parliament and next, 84 of which are brand new today. Over 1,300 new lane miles will be added by schemes being delivered over the next parliament on motorways

Sanef its has been awarded two major contracts by Eurotunnel, to redesign the HGV parking facility in Coquelles, in the Pas-de-Calais, France and to reorganise the Eurotunnel freight terminal both in France and England. Sanef its, which won the ten-year design, build, operate (DBO) contract to redesign the HGV parking facility, will design, integrate and install all the toll equipment enabling drivers to pay and access the terminal 2015 secured HGV parking facility. Other Sanef companies of the Sanef

Siemens is to supply North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) with its new Stratos integrated highways management solution. The new contract, with the largest county in England, will deliver real time UTC and SCOOT adaptive control for 43 sites in Harrogate and a further 10 sites in Scarborough by means of a hosted UTC SCOOT service, whilst sign and car park management will be provided for both towns by the cloud hosted Stratos car parking management module. The project will also deliver a new IP commun

A new report by Allied Market Research, Global Connected Cars Market (Technology, Connectivity Solutions, Application, Products & Services and Geography) - Size, Share, Global Trends, Company Profiles, Demand, Insights, Analysis, Research, Report, Opportunities, Segmentation and Forecast, 2013 - 2020, indicates that the global connected cars market is forecast to reach US$141 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 32.7 per cent during the period 2014 - 2020. The integrated connectivity solutions segment