News

Init, public transport ITS and ticketing systems supplier, is working with Nottingham City Transport’s (NCT) in the UK on a US$3 million contract to supply smart ticketing, planning and duty rostering systems. The project will provide an integrated solution that includes Init’s paper ticket printer Printmobil, which, with touch on/off smart card validator Proxmobil2, will be controlled by the existing on-board computer Copilotpc, alongside Init’s touch screen driver interface Touchit which currently fo

NASHVILLE’s Metro Transit Authority is to improve and expand the bus service into downtown Nashville, thanks to a US$10 million US Department of Transportation grant. The US$13.8 million project includes the installation of upgraded traffic signal equipment and safety enhancements that will improve bus service and provide a more comfortable ride for transit users.

The Vaisala road weather system deployed by Idaho Transportation Department has won a "Best New Innovative Product, Service or Application for 2013" award at the 2013 National Rural ITS Conference in St Cloud, Minnesota. The award highlights new technology that furthers the development and/or deployment of rural intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications, as well as specific and measurable outcomes that result from the product or service. The Idaho Transportation Department, using Vaisala's

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster witnessed firsthand a demonstration of driverless automobile technology, when he rode from suburban Pittsburgh to Pittsburgh International Airport in Carnegie Mellon University’s driverless vehicle. Shuster was joined yesterday by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation secretary Barry Schoch for the thirty-mile trip in the driverless 2011 Cadillac SRX. The fully automated vehicle safely navigated the route, which included various dri

US drivers are predominantly open-minded to purchasing usage-based auto insurance (UBI) policies, or pay as you drive insurance, according to a new survey by professional services company Towers Watson. The survey results are a clear indication that UBI is gaining momentum in the marketplace, with more consumers willing to let insurers monitor their driving habits with a telematics device in exchange for potential savings on their car insurance. Most (79 per cent) respondents to the UBI Consumer Survey

TomTom has released the latest version of TomTom Traffic which now includes an innovative ‘jam ahead warning’ feature, which pinpoints the precise location of a traffic jam and sends an early-warning alert so that drivers can safely reduce their speed. Available automatically to all existing users, TomTom Traffic also includes new features that further improve routing accuracy. TomTom Traffic now detects road closures and road works automatically on more roads. A new ‘predictive flow feed’ can more accu

A series of recently-announced measures to improve cycle safety in London include the establishment of a new industrial heavy goods vehicle (HGV) task force to take direct action against dangerous HGV drivers, vehicles and operators, review exemptions to current HGV regulations and a call for European Union to speed up its review on the design of HGVs to increase drivers’ visibility of vulnerable road users. In addition, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Driving Standards Agency are to issue a c

The University of Tokyo and Mazda Motor Corporation have jointly developed a system involving wireless communications technology to prevent collisions between cars and streetcars (or trams). The system’s car-mounted sensors can detect signals from a streetcar up to 100 metres away, in contrast with the current range of just a few dozen metres for conventional sensors on cars. The new system is designed to prevent collisions between vehicles and oncoming streetcars by allowing their position and direction

New figures from the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have revealed that motorists with up to 42 penalty points on their licence are still driving on Britain’s roads. Drivers can be banned from the road if they accumulate 12 points on their licence over a three-year period, but there are 8,000 drivers still getting behind the wheel despite having reached or exceeded that number.

Transport Minister Norman Baker has launched the UK government’s strategy, Driving the future today - a strategy for ultra low emission vehicles in the UK, to drive forward the ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) industry. The new strategy signals a major change in the way vehicles will be powered in the future and reaffirms the government’s commitment to provide new opportunities for the motor industry to help grow the UK economy.

After years of delays and cost overruns, the newly built US$6.4 billion eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened with few problems other than the traffic snarls that were common around the toll plaza of the old span. The single pylon suspension span replaces a structure that was damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It is designed to withstand the strongest earthquake estimated by seismologists to occur at the site over a 1,500-year period.

Thales has been awarded a contract by Hong Kong’s metro operator, MTR Corporation, to provide signalling technology for Shatin to Central Link Phase 1 segment of the Hong Kong metro using a communications-based train control (CBTC) system. To provide fully automatic train operation the contract includes the modernisation of the Ma On Shan Line and West Rail Line lines, where Thales previously installed its CBTC solution in 2003/04.

The European Commission’s second annual award for outstanding sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMP) has been launched with the theme of the ‘integration of economic, social, and environmental policy criteria.’ The winning regional or local authority will gain Europe-wide coverage for their plan and a prize of US$13,000. A sustainable urban mobility plan helps cities and local authorities meet the transport needs of their citizens and businesses in an effective and sustainable way. The award recognises

According to the Wall Street Journal, Siemens is to exit its electric vehicle (EV) charging points business, as demand and market development turned out weaker than expected. Despite a government plan to see one million registered electric cars on German roads by 2020, consumers haven't been keen about such vehicles. Last year for instance, only 4,157 e-cars were newly registered in Germany, bringing the total to 7,112.

One of the ten key projects launched in 2006 by Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport aims to build the world’s most intelligent highways. In a world where eighty per cent of traffic accidents on expressways are attributed to driver negligence, Korea records the lowest level of traffic safety among OECD member countries. The smart highway project aims to reduce the accident rate and encourage people to use expressways more conveniently by integrating information, automobile and road mana