News

In response to recent comments by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, and the ongoing study of spectrum sharing being undertaken by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) urged spectrum policymakers not to fast track a decision on opening the 5.9 GHz band to unlicensed users. A complete record and fair opportunity for all affected parties to participate in the process needs to be addressed, particularly since life-saving v

Keeping an accurate log of business mileage is made easier by a new app launched by TomTom; the new Webfleet logbook app for Android and iPhone helps drivers and businesses reduce mileage claim administration and creates reliable logs to help with tax compliance. A driver simply selects whether a journey is for business, private or commuting purposes, validating journey information on his mobile device. The app works in combination with the in-vehicle TomTom’s link tracking device which reports the trip inf

San Diego North County’s Interstate 15 corridor is best known for its flood of freeway traffic, not its mass transit stations. This is due to change next year, when the Sabre Springs/Penasquitos transit station, just east of I-15 on Sabre Springs Parkway, is set to undergo a US$12.2 million face-lift that will include a four-storey parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations, electronic next bus signs and even some smart parking spaces. “This will be our flagship station,” said Frank Owsiany, who ov

The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is seeking public input as it develops the next version of the ITS Strategic Plan. A new document called An Open Dialogue on the Draft Focus and Themes for the Next ITS Strategic Research Plan: Engaging Stakeholders in Their Discussion and Development was released today and it identifies the ITS-related issues that USDOT will focus on for the rest of the decade. The current ITS Strategic Research Plan - 2010-2014 established a focused research agenda to prepare th

Work being carried out by the University of Toronto’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Centre could have a beneficial effect on the city’s congestion problems. Says Professor Baher Abdulhai of the Centre, "Everybody realises that we have a big congestion problem in Toronto and the scarier part is that it's getting worse, exponentially." One of the solutions he's working on is smarter traffic lights using artificial intelligence to control the flow of traffic. "Each traffic light would learn how to time i

Suffolk County Transit (SCT), based in Yaphank, New York, has chosen US ITS technology provider INIT to implement an intelligent transportation system (ITS) on more than 300 of their fixed-route and community transport vehicles. SCT provides public transport for over 1.5 million people over a service area of 900 square miles on Long Island. The contract includes an inter-modal fleet management system, onboard computers, driver terminals and onboard announcements. 10 percent of the fleet will be equipped wi

The City of Cologne, Germany, and IBM have completed a smarter traffic pilot to predict and manage traffic flow and road congestion in the city. The pilot demonstrates how the city of Cologne can anticipate, better manage, and in many cases, avoid traffic jams and trouble spots across the city using analytics technology. Germany’s fourth largest city, Cologne has a population of just over one million, is a retail centre, hub for trade shows and a cultural center with many museums and galleries. The increas

Iteris, US-based intelligent traffic management information solutions provider is to upgrade and operate the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) next generation 511 Traveler Information System. The company has been awarded a three-year contract, valued at approximately US$2.5 million, including two one-year options for ongoing operation and maintenance. Work on the project is planned to begin immediately. A component of the award includes IterisPeMS (iPeMS), a state-of-the-art system that a

Norwegian toll technology provider Q-Free has received a further order from Vespucio Norte Express in Chile for its OBU610 toll tags, valued at US$3.4 million. Delivery starts in May 2013. One of the first urban concessionaires in Santiago, Vespucio Norte Express is one of the most modern road connections worldwide. In operation since January 2006, the 29 km link is one of the busiest roads in the Chilean capital. It aims to reduce travel times, increase safety levels for users, contribute to urban develo

A new report from the International Transport Forum, a global transport policy platform with fifty-four member countries, entitled Sharing Road Safety states that governments can more effectively improve road safety by making better use of indicators that reliably quantify the reduction of crashes due to interventions in the road-traffic system. Almost 1.3 million people die in road crashes every year, and between 20 and 50 million are injured. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among youn

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) has released a report detailing US revenue estimates of eight ITS service packages, as defined by the National ITS Architecture and an analysis of the opportunities and challenges currently facing the ITS industry. The report, entitled The US Intelligent Transportation Systems Market: Revenues of Service, Opportunities and Challenges, is an update to the August 2011 report Sizing the US and North American Intelligent Transportation System Marke

The first V2X for Auto Safety & Mobility Conference, to be held in Frankfurt on 20-21 February, will bring together expert speakers from ITS UK, European Commission, BMW, Renault and Scania to devise a unified commercialisation and deployment strategy for vehicle and infrastructure technology to accelerate safety and mobility. Telematics Update, organisers of the conference, say that vehicle to vehicle communication will transform automotive safety, enabling deployment of effective active safety features fo

UK headquartered ticketing technology company Parkeon Transit is to provide the complete ticketing system for the Edinburgh tram project, including the supply and maintenance of the company’s latest Galexio-Plus ticket machines, Axio platform validators, and hand-held payment terminals. The system will be enabled to dual-read both ITSO cards and the Lothian Buses’ Ridacard, and will be linked to the existing Lothian Buses’ back office, with card holders sharing the benefits across both the tram and bus netw

TransCore and the New York City Department of Transportation have been presented with the prestigious International Road Federation (IRF) Global Road Achievement Award (GRAA) for deployment of the midtown in motion adaptive signal control system. The GRAA is a leading international competition to identify and honour excellence, innovation, and exceptional achievement. This year’s awards honoured ten projects from countries around the world, with NYCDOT and TransCore receiving the award for excellence in int

Independent research and development organisation Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and testing and inspection services provider TÜV Rheinland Mobility have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop functional standards for the performance of autonomous driving on public roadways. Following the lead of Florida, California and Nevada, which have all developed regulations enabling autonomous driving, SwRI and TÜV Rheinland Mobility will collaborate to establish standards and performance metrics that w