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Texting while driving with Google Glass is clearly a distraction, a new University of Central Florida UCF) study has concluded, but there is a twist. In the study, texting Glass users outperformed smartphone users when regaining control of their vehicles after a traffic incident. The study, conducted in cooperation with the Air Force Research Laboratory, is the first scientific look at using Google Glass to text while driving. Distracted drivers are a hazard on the road and according to the National S

The One-Stop Shop for Traveller Information (OSS), a website that integrates weather and road information from multiple western states, developed at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute (WTI), has been awarded an international award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America). The OSS provides travellers with current road information that does not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Combined with real-time weather information, the OSS provides motorists with

Digital security specialist Gemalto has been selected by China Mobile to provide its UpTeq NFC multi-tenant SIMs to protect consumer credentials used for mobile contactless applications, starting with mass transit services in Beijing. Gemalto pre-loads the SIMs with the Beijing transport application and enables over 22 million daily commuters in the city to travel on buses and the metro by simply tapping their smartphones on the contactless ticket reader. Beijing commuters are demanding convenient

The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) has launched its manifesto outlining the Institution’s proposals and views on key issues affecting the industry. Making the Journey - A Manifesto for Transport highlights the benefits of this sector to the UK’s economy and society and calls for a national transport strategy to provide clear direction and certainty for UK transport policy. It also points out the need for a longer-term view and commitment to future funding for the UK’s transpo

US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has announced US$100 million in competitive grants to 24 recipients in 19 states to significantly improve bus service and bus facilities in urban and rural communities where residents depend heavily on public transportation. The grants are provided through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Ladders of Opportunity Initiative, which supports the modernisation and expansion of transit bus service across the nation, with the purpose of connecting disadvantaged an

The all-new Ford Mondeo will be equipped with a raft of safety features, including technology that is able to detect people in the road ahead and – if the driver does not respond to warning sounds and displays – automatically applies the brakes. Pedestrian Detection is among a raft of new features and improvements detailed by Ford which enhance the Mondeo. The system is part of the Pre-Collision Assist package that also introduces Active Braking, which can autonomously apply braking to help mitigate rear

The UK’s Southern Railway has extended the use of its ‘the key’ smartcard across the entire Oyster network in London. Passengers on the Southern rail franchise can now use the single smart card from most stations to travel by rail, bus and Tube across the capital. Supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems, ‘the key’ was first trialled in November 2011 on Southern’s Brighton to Seaford line. It was subsequently rolled out across most of their network for journeys outside the Oyster network and those termin

The I-80 Smart Corridor is to use 133 energy-saving, low-light-pollution signs on the 31.4km (19.5miles) route between the Oakland Bay Bridge and the Carquinez Bridge in California. Due to open next year, the US$80m project will see adaptive metering at 44 on-ramps (with bus priority and HOV bypass) and the new signs will be used for lane management and to advise drivers of incidents and variable speed limits. The system will be managed from a centralised control room in Oakland and the traffic signa

In recognition of the growing importance of machine vision techniques in traffic management technology, ITS International’s publisher (Route One) is working with the organiser of the Vision Show (Stuttgart, Germany 6-8 November) to produce a special publication for the show and daily video reports. While machine vision technology is well established in other sectors, applications in transportation have been slow to arrive but are now quickly catching up. The transport-focused publication will be handed

Thatcham, Britain’s leading insurance-related automotive research centre, has given top marks to the self-braking system on Mercedes latest C-Class car saying it will provide major benefits to road safety and motorists’ insurance premiums. During testing for the Euro NCAP rating, the braking system on the latest avoided collisions at speeds of up to 40km/h (25mph) by detecting an object in its path and bringing the vehicle to a halt without any driver input. To date many autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

According to Nedap, its recently-introduced automatic numberplate reader, ANPR Access HD, provides powerful licence plate reading in challenging vehicle access control situations and is easily be integrated into third party security, parking and traffic management systems. ANPR Access HD is an all-in-one system, comprising high definition camera, analyser, six high power infrared illuminators and embedded ANPR processing software. With a reading distance of four to ten metres, the camera identifies all

Visiongain’s report, Automotive Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communications Market 2014-2024, looks at vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, which encapsulate it says a truly connected vehicle - able to communicate with other vehicles, traffic lights, toll gates, pedestrians, and even the owner's home - the automotive sector's answer to safe, clean and ultimately autonomous/self-driving vehicles. According to the report, in 2014, the V2X market is still in its infancy, comprising only vehicle-to-veh

According to Mattar Al Tayer, chairman and executive director of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the authority is planning at least another 35 mega projects in the future after spending about US$19.8 billion so far in upgrading services in the city. Speaking at InnoTrans 2014 in Berlin, Al Tayer said work was progressing on projects related to Expo 2020. He said these would include the extension of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro, upgrading roads and junctions surrounding and leading to t