News

3M has entered into an agreement to acquire the business of Federal Signal Technologies Group (FSTech) from Federal Signal Corporation for a purchase price of US$110 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. 3M says the fast-growing $3 billion electronic tolling industry is projected to grow at a rate greater than 12 per cent per year as government agencies increasingly rely on tolling to fund roadway infrastructure, construction and maintenance. The company says FSTech’s solutions for electroni

Miami International Airport’s Automated People Mover (APM) is now operational, with a capacity to move more than 3,000 passengers per hour, at a top speed of 65km/h. The driverless system was constructed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and is the company’s fourth APM deployment in the US.

Tex Toll Services, a subsidiary of Cintra in the USA, which is in turn a branch of Ferrovial, has awarded Spain-headquartered Indra a US$14.9 million contract to implement electronic toll back office systems on the SH-130, LBJ Express and North Tarrant Express highways, in Texas. Besides the development, implementation and maintenance of the electronic toll systems back office on the three highways, the contract also includes the setting up of two high-availability data processing centres, one in Austin and

Iteris has partnered with Sutec Holding to become the Argentinian company’s designated supplier of noninvasive video detection technologies for its traffic signal control systems. “This preferred provider partnership enables Iteris to build on our existing local relationships and strengthens our presence in key Latin American markets,” says Abbas Mohaddes, President and CEO of Iteris.

A consortium led by Prodata Mobility Systems has won a US$147 million contract to equip the buses and the trams of the Belgian transport company Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn with an onboard computer and validators for the transport company’s new Mobib chip card.

Nissan has teamed up with leading European utility and Electrical Vehicle (EV) supply equipment companies to speed development of cheaper, smaller, quick chargers for EV batteries, and accelerate the installation of publicly available Quick Charge (QC) points right across Europe. This agreement between Nissan, Circutor, DBT, Efacec, Endesa and Siemens is expected to result in a dramatic reduction in the price of the units – by over half to under €10,000 (US$13,668) – paving the way for businesses such as se

Ertico – ITS Europe held its annual General Assembly in Brussels yesterday and over 60 representatives from the different sectors represented by Ertico (service providers, public authorities, vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, users, research, mobile network operators, and traffic and transport industry) focused on the organisation's activities and policy positions as well as discussing the next important milestones such as the 19th ITS World Congress organised by Ertico, in close cooperation with the Austr

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan predicts that electrified transmissions will experience increased penetration in both European and North American regions due to the increased focus on hybrid vehicles and their positive impact on emissions and fuel economy. However, end-user preference for automatic transmissions (AT) in North America and for manual transmissions (MT) in Europe will dictate the market penetration of the type of transmission technology with integrated electric motors.

The Netherland’s city of Helmond has decided to continue the cooperative mobility services piloted in the successful European Union co-funded Urban Freight Energy Efficiency Pilot (Freilot) project. Based on the positive results of the pilot, the partners involved (the Helmond Fire Brigade, the Municipality, Van den Broek Logistics and Imtech/Peek) are in talks to work out the details of a commercial agreement. These talks mark the end phase of Freilot, and a beginning for the commercial operation of cooper

The European Council for Automotive R&D (Eucar) has called for a number of priority automotive research and innovation (R&I) initiatives in Horizon 2020 to support competitive and sustainable road transport and for these initiatives to be supported by a substantial budget that reflects the sector’s social and economic contribution to Europe. Rémi Bastien, chairman of Eucar, set out the association’s recommendations on Horizon 2020 to an audience of MEPs and stakeholders at a seminar in the European Parliame

Eight of the world’s largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) banks yesterday pledged to invest US$175 billion over the next 10 years to support sustainable transport in developing countries. The pledge was made at the UN Sustainable Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20) by the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, CAF- Development Bank of Latin America, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Islamic Developme

International car sharing network Zipcar has announced it is the lead investor in a US$13.7 million Series A round of funding for Wheelz, which claims to be the first peer-to-peer (P2P) car sharing company targeting college campus communities. “Based on our analysis and primary research, we believe P2P could expand the total addressable market for car sharing,” said Zipcar chairman and CEO Scott Griffith, who added he believes Wheelz has the right leadership, technology and business model to succeed in the

Innovative vehicle and infrastructure technology being developed in the European Intersafe-2 research project is targeting known issues of road safety at intersections, with the aim of improving safety at intersections by up to 80 per cent. Four systems giving assistance to drivers for right turns, left turns, intersections and addressing give way situations could make major reductions in accidents. Sensor technology installed in vehicles and at intersections relay messages and help boost safety. Finnish re