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The Spanish city of Madrid has been unanimously elected to the presidency of the Polis network in 2014, taking over the role from the city of Perugia in Italy. The cities of Budapest, Perugia, Rotterdam and Stuttgart were elected to Polis management committee. Madrid has been promoting sustainable transport for many years, both locally and through cooperation across borders. Outstanding initiatives in the Spanish capital include the city's ambitious Air Quality Plan, the promotion of cycling and walking,

Research by KPMG has revealed that the Russian road infrastructure market is growing by an average ten per cent per year. The market may total US$43.62 billion by 2020, compared with US$9.9 billion in 2007. According to analysts, only large federal road construction companies are able to achieve the highest profitability. However, such companies will have to reduce costs because contracts are becoming bigger and more complex and include construction of artificial structures, for example. Consolidation of co

Following a nine-month field test, Denver, Colorado-based E-470 highway authority is to use Confidex’s 18000-6C UHF RFID windshield tags in their all-electronic ExpressToll toll collection system. E-470 processes on average 3.5 million ExpressToll transactions monthly, requiring a high level of reliability for the non-stop, electronic tolling system at highway speeds. The OmniAir-certified18000-6C UHF tag is a reliable and tamper evident solution that is attached to the car windshield to automatically id

LeddarTech, manufacturer of the patented Leddar LED-based detection technology has introduced its new industrial Leddar sensor, a unique detection and ranging product offering what the company says is the best cost/performance ratio on the market. The sensor utilises a 45-degree beam and is specially designed for quick and easy integration into a wide variety of applications. It can detect, locate and measure all types of objects, solid or liquid, even in the harshest conditions. As it contains no movin

LED lighting specialist Raytec has integrated its range of Vario IP network illuminators with Milestone’s XProtect video management system, providing a high level of lighting flexibility, management and control in conjunction with all other network technologies in a security system, from one central platform. The integration uses Raytec Milestone plug-in software, available free of charge from the Raytec website. Controlled individually or in groups, Raytec network illuminators can be easily configu

TRW’s latest Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) technology, incorporating closed loop control, has gone into production for the first time on two vehicle platforms for the European market. LKA integrates data from a video camera sensor with electrically powered steering (EPS) to apply a short counter-steer torque via the steering system to assist the driver in preventing the vehicle from unintentionally leaving the lane. In conventional LKA systems, the technology is only active when the vehicle is close to t

REDFLEXred radar, the latest red light and speed enforcement system from Redflex, utilises non-intrusive mapping radar technology and is said to be the first enforcement system to feature true secondary speed verification capability. REDFLEXred radar tracks the position and speed of up to thirty vehicles at an intersection simultaneously and records two independent speed measurements for every vehicle detected and automatically verifies that they are within the allowable tolerance. It also provides addit

India's Gujarat state has begun commercial operation of a radio frequency identification (RFID) electronic toll collection (ETC) system supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The system, the country's first fully access-controlled expressway, uses RFID readers installed at toll plazas to detect in-vehicle RFID tags and collect tolls. The 59-lane toll system has six toll plazas; 28 lanes are equipped with the new system, which officials hope will contribute to easing traffic congestion and preserv

The E-ZPass Group is to work with OmniAir Certification Services (OCS) to specify a testing program for ensuring full compliance of competitive equipment with E-ZPass readers and tags. OCS was hired by the E-ZPass Group for fees of around US$50,000 to detail the testing needed. The documents are due to be completed by the end of the year. Actual testing for certification will be negotiated by manufacturers with OCS-accredited testing firms. The move to certify additional suppliers’ equipment follows K

Siemens has won a new SCOOT adaptive traffic signal control project in the US city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. With a population of nearly 50,000 people, Hattiesburg is the fourth largest city in the state. In the first phase, SCOOT will control up to forty intersections in Hattiesburg and the surrounding area with more intersections expected to be added to the system over the coming years. The project is being managed by local dealer Temple Inc and Siemens USA. Roadside implementation will get underway

Frost & Sullivan is organising a web conference, entitled Impact of Big Data on the Automotive Industry, on Tuesday, 10 December 2013, at 3.00 pm GMT. Frost & Sullivan program manager, Niranjan Manohar and global practice director Automotive & Transportation, Sarwant Singh, will discuss emerging trends and opportunities for the big data automotive industry. Participants in this web conference will learn about key big data features and services, understand community, technological and other related chal

Volvo Cars will play a leading role in the world's first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project in which 100 self-driving Volvo cars will use approximately 50 kilometres of selected public roads in everyday driving conditions around the Swedish city of Gothenburg. These roads are typical commuter arteries and include motorway conditions and frequent queues. The project also includes fully automated parking, without a driver in the car. The ground-breaking project 'Drive Me - Self-driving cars f

Horizon 2020 is about to start, with a budget of around US$104 billion. This new European Commission (EC) framework programme is designed to boost research and innovation across Europe and an information day has been organised by the Directorate Generals for Research and Innovation and Mobility and Transport on 18 December in Brussels. The event, which will inform potential participants about the first round of calls under the Smart, Green and Integrated Transport Challenge, will provide the details of

International engineering group Egis has partnered with tolling ITS solutions provider Actoll to create TollSys, developer of tolling back office software solutions. TollSys will benefit from business process controls and project management provided by Egis, while Actoll will provide its Ticks software publishing and expertise in toll software development. Its Ticks BPMN studio platform will form the development tool for back office software.