News

Switzerland-headquartered U-blox, a specialist in positioning and wireless semiconductors, has acquired UK-based Cognovo, a company specialising in software defined modem (SDM) chip development technology. The acquisition extends U-blox’ chip design capabilities to create differentiated products for strategic markets that require 4G communications combined with global positioning.

TomTom is enabling all of its 60 million portable navigation devices to receive free daily map changes via the TomTom map share community. Map share allows drivers to personalise the TomTom map on their own device and also share and receive map changes with the community around the world. This facility was previously only available on a limited number of TomTom devices.

IBM and the Davao City Government in the Philippines have announced an agreement to help the city scale-up its existing public safety and security command centre (PSSCC) by integrating city operations into a single system. To enable Davao’s smarter city transformation, IBM’s intelligent operations centre (IOC) will integrate multiple city agencies in the PSSCC to improve interdepartmental collaboration and enhance the management of Davao’s four pillars of public safety: crime prevention and suppression; eme

Engineers in the Ford Research and Innovation labs are developing ways to help the driver stay focused in busy situations by intelligently managing incoming communications. Data from the sensing systems of driver-assist technologies can be used to determine the amount of external demand and workload upon a driver at any given time including traffic and road conditions. In addition, Ford continues its health and wellness research with the development of a biometric seat, seat belt and steering wheel that can

SFC Energy has received a follow up order from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles for equipping another 242 toll inspection vehicles, based on the T5 vehicle model, ordered by the German Federal Office for Goods (BAG). with EFOY Pro fuel cell generators. The BAG uses the vehicles all across Germany for toll inspection purposes. Volkswagen equips the T5 transporters ‘ex works’ with the fuel cells.

The US Department of Transportation has announced a Request for Information (RFI) for documents related to nomadic devices for real time data collection. The purpose of the notice is to obtain information, for planning purposes, concerning the availability of nomadic data collection devices for real time travel data with what are perceived to be unique capabilities for operating in a highly mobile environment; and to determine whether the needed capabilities exist or where there are gaps that need to be fil

Volvo Trucks has announced it has developed I-See, which operates like an autopilot and takes over gear-changing and utilises gradients to save fuel. The system, which will be available on the market next year, is linked to the transmission’s tilt sensor and obtains information about the topography digitally. The fact that the system is not dependent on maps makes it more dependable since it always obtains the very latest information. I-See can recall about 4,000 gradients, corresponding to a distance of 5,

US Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) announced yesterday that House and Senate conferees are concluding a bicameral, bipartisan agreement on a major transportation bill. The measure focuses on unprecedented reforms by cutting red tape and consolidating federal transportation programmes.

Mobile Pay has been added to PassportParking’s suite of cloud based parking solutions to provide greater operational efficiency to operators through real-time monitoring and control of their facilities. For instance, its operations management console can now allow parking providers to simply manage their day-to-day functions such as parking rates, contract parking, ticketing and enforcement, real-time monitoring and reporting, all from the internet. Motorists can pay for parking by using a mobile app, calli

Electrification of the automobile is not limited to the electric vehicles (EVs). As a new report from Frost & Sullivan points out, conventional cars of today are partly electric in their own way, with most systems in the vehicle having electrical and electronic connections for better functionality. Certain high-end vehicles possess more than 90 electronic control units (ECUs) to control the various modules within the car, making the car both sophisticated and complicated. However, added functions such as el

Mediamobile and UK based traffic service provider Trafficmaster has signed an agreement which will enable Mediamobile to enhance its European traffic information service for carmakers, navigation system and PND manufacturers, telco's and media companies. The agreement will allow Mediamobile to offer as part of its multi-country service portfolio, traffic related data such as traffic events and traffic flow data over the UK territory produced by Trafficmaster. Whilst operating its own traffic and travel info

Ford's research organisation will use Nokia's location platform to advance innovation for smart and connected vehicles, as demonstrated by the Ford EVOS concept car. Ford selected the platform to leverage Nokia's high-quality global location content, including the Navteq map, as well as scaleable cloud services and APIs. It is claimed this complete solution offers a fast, easy and cost-effective path to create innovative and differentiated location products.

Veolia Transdev and IBM today announced that together they are developing a smarter mobility solution designed to help cities alleviate road congestion, optimise transportation infrastructures and improve the urban traveller experience. The first application of the smarter mobility solution is being piloted in the city of Lyon, France, which is the second largest metropolitan area in the country outside of Paris, as part of the city’s Optimod project. Optimod'Lyon will test and validate new services to impr

The Russian ministry of transport has prepared a government draft decree that will require all commercial vehicles over 12 tons to pay a toll for each kilometre driven on federal roads. A unified fee collecting operator will be set up, which will equip all heavyweight vehicles with on-board units. The devices will determine the vehicle's route by using Glonass satellite navigation, and calculate a fee for roadway damage. The rates will be set by the government, but a charge of US$0.11 per kilometre is curre

Intelematics Australia, the company behind Suna Traffic Channel, has embarked on its first international venture with the launch of the service in New Zealand to provide live traffic updates on Garmin Nüvi models as well as an in-app purchase on the Magellan RoadMate AU and NZ App for iPhone. “SUNA is now providing up-to-the-minute- information on traffic congestion and road incidents directly to compatible navigation devices to motorists in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch,” said Adam Game, CCEO, Inte