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A group of leading industry professionals has written to the US National Telecom­munications & Information Administration (NTIA) to ask for a rethink, following the announcement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the 5.9GHz band is to be opened up for spectrum sharing. The group, led by ITS America president and CEO Scott Belcher, includes senior academics, automotive manu­facturers, ITS system suppliers and a number of US state departments of transportation such as those of Michigan, Texas

Norwegian toll technology provider Q-Free has secured two new contracts worth a combined US$7.5m to supply toll tags to toll concessionaires in Chile and Brazil.Vespucio Norte Express in Chile has placed a US$3.4m order for the firm’s OBU610 toll tags, with delivery to start this May. Q-Free is also to supply tags to the value of US$4.1m to Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP) in Brazil. One of the first urban concessionaires in Santiago, Vespucio Norte Express is one of the most modern road connections worl

Police in Annapolis, Maryland, USA, are to begin using speed cameras around local schools on weekdays between six in the morning and eight at night. For the first thirty days, only warnings will be issued; after that motorists caught driving as twelve mph or more over the speed limit will get a US$40 citation in the mail. Initially, the cameras will only patrol two schools, but more will be added every two weeks, with the goal of all of them being patrolled by May. Not all of the designated areas will have

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has replaced the old high-pressure-sodium (HPS) lighting system along Highway 101 with the state’s first light-emitting-diode (LED) lighting system. “This is the first time we’ve used LED lights on a state highways and for most drivers, it will be quite a change,” said John Nisbet, WSDOT state traffic engineer. “LED lights appear whiter and brighter than our standard lights. And those who travel the area late at night will see some lights dimmed or shut

The fifth and final webinar of the AERIS Fall//Winter 2012-2013 Webinar Series will take place on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 1:00 pm EST. The webinar will describe the results of a recent connected vehicle field experiment performed in two locations (University of California at Riverside and the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center). Complementary modelling results will also be described. The field experiment was conducted in August 2012 and was based on the AERIS Program's Eco-Approach and Departure a

Gatso’s T-Series based Millia in-vehicle speed enforcement solution has been type approved by the French Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE) for use in France. According to Gatso, its Millia solutions reduce speed related crashes by enforcing the speed limit. For in-vehicle use, the system components are integrated into an enforcement vehicle without altering the appearance of the vehicle. Depending on the chosen strategy, the operator can choose to enforce approaching or receding traffic o

Two new managed toll lanes being built on nine miles of the César Chávez Border Highway Loop 375 in El Paso, Texas are expected to increase capacity and reduce traffic congestion in the area thanks to a managed lane free flow tolling system to be supplied by Schneider Electric. The company has been selected by the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) to provide tolling system integration and maintenance services on the two new managed lanes. In order to operate and support the additional toll la

Responding to requests for change from many exhibitors, and after discussions with the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA), Messe Stuttgart has decided to move the Vision to a biennial cycle with immediate effect, which means that the Vision exhibition will take place in 2014. The reason for this change is attributed to the fact that, although the show had been successful for many years, this success was in jeopardy due to the change of date from November to September and the fact that some major exh

In a contract worth US$59 million, German telematics specialist Init is to supply a fleet management system for iBus, one of the largest public transport projects in Canada currently being launched by Société de Transport de Montréal (STM). STM, the main transit authority in the second most important economic region in Canada is modernising and enhancing its operations over the next few years. At the heart of this is a fleet management and real-time passenger information system with state-of-the-art vehicle

South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has launched a zero emission electric vehicle pilot programme, which would see it trial a fleet of electric vehicles. Speaking at the launch, water and environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa said the multi-stakeholder partnership project would pilot, test and demonstrate the viability of electric vehicles under South African conditions. The pilot programme would also serve to determine end-user, infrastructure and running costs associated with loc

The iMobility Challenge, a high-level technology demonstration day during which visitors, both public and professionals, can take the driver's seat and experience the latest mobility applications takes place on Wednesday 11 September 2013 Valkenburg Airport, Katwijk in the Netherlands. Participants will get an overview of a diverse variety of technologies, systems, services & actual deployment examples in the field of efficient, cooperative, smart and safe mobility. The iMobility Challenge event will be f

The first of three hundred cars carrying speed camera systems are due to start operations on France’s roads on 15 March in around twenty regions. Installed in an ordinary-looking Renault Megane is a new-generation speed camera built into the dashboard with a vehicle detector radar behind the licence plate. Each is capable of detecting speeding vehicles and photographing them, without flash, while on the move at motorway speeds. Although unmarked cars are used, the officers driving them will still be in uni

A consortium led by Bombardier Transportation in partnership with Thales and Nokia Siemens Networks has won the US$146 million contract to modernise the signalling of the 350 km long E65 railway line linking Warsaw and Gdynia. The need to comply with the standards of the trans-European transport network linking the north and south of Europe makes the contract is one of the most important investments of PKP, the Polish railway lines operator. The consortium claims the modernisation will enhance safety and in

From the beginning, the SafeLight and SafeSpeed programs in the Louisiana city of Lafayette have met with controversy and resistance. However, a newly released report shows that the programs, which began in 2007, have reduced crashes at monitored intersections and improved the city's finances. A new contract with Redflex, the company that runs the program, will provide cameras at four new locations and will deploy two more speed vans by 2016. “We believe that SafeLight and SafeSpeed, the so-called red-light

German automotive supplier Continental and BMW Group are pooling their development capacities to define the long-term prerequisites for series introduction of highly automated driving on European freeways. The two companies have signed an agreement to jointly develop an electronic co-pilot for this purpose, with the aim of paving the way to automated driving functions beyond the year 2020. “Automated driving is a key element in future mobility. It will significantly enhance safety, comfort and efficiency on