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Hertz On Demand, the global car sharing club, and IBM are together piloting a programme in Germany to advance electric vehicle (EV) mobility and user adoption through intelligent recharging solutions. In a special agreement, Hertz On Demand in Germany will supply electric vehicles to the car share fleet used by IBM employees to drive between Stuttgart Airport and the company's campus in Ehningen, about 30 km away.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has highlighted the dilemma facing many governments – motoring tax income set to fall even as traffic rises - in an analysis of the decline in the amount of revenue collect from fuel duty and VED (vehicle excise duty) in the UK. The collapse in income from motoring taxation will be caused by increasingly fuel efficient petrol and diesel cars, and the predicted large-scale take-up of electric vehicles.

UK company Traffic Technology Limited has announced significant speed reductions at the Lochhead Landfill site, in Scotland, following the deployment of four SIDs (Speed Indicator Devices) as part of on-going health and safety improvements. The devices are installed at the site entrance and at three other points on the main waste vehicle access route to detect and inform drivers of their speed. Since being installed, the units have been instrumental in greatly reducing speeding on the site. According to Pe

TKH Security Solutions has announced the release of its new Siqura XSNet Ethernet switch line. The company says its XSNet 3000 and XSNet 4000 series provides a complete offering of managed/unmanaged switches and media convertors. This series offers hardened units for operation under extreme conditions as well as a selection of powering options, including PoE. Additionally, the XSNet 3000 / 4000 line includes optional SFP (or mini GBIC) interfaces that enable these devices to transmit Ethernet/IP signals dir

The board of directors of Delcan has announced several appointments to principal, senior principal and vice president as part of its programme to reward team members for their strong leadership and technical skills, as well as contributions made to the corporation’s growth and success. In the company’s transportation division, Kelly Roberts and Sam Dinatolo have been promoted to principal. Nigel Astell, based in Vienna, Virginia, USA, who leads Delcan’s rail and transit business has been promoted to vice pr

A major programme to upgrade traffic lights at 78 junctions and 100 pedestrian crossings across Norfolk, in the UK, with new energy-saving LED signals from Siemens is nearing completion. The retrofit project to supply, install and maintain all 178 sites is estimated to provide up to 78 per cent power consumption and carbon savings for Norfolk County Council (NCC). The new contract includes an innovative cost benefit payback solution provided by Siemens Financial Services.

Poland’s traffic police have started to use portable long range cameras to spot if drivers are not wearing seat belts, are using cell phones, running red lights, transporting children without car seats, or driving with no visible licence plate or validation sticker. The cameras can be set up and remotely operated and controlled with an in-car laptop and are typically used at 50-150 metre distances. It means that, instead of using binoculars, officers can sit inside a police car, place the equipment on the s

A team of IBM experts assigned to Nairobi have provided a framework and roadmap to the city to improve the flow of road traffic and increase revenues from the transportation sector. The recommendations complement Nairobi's considerable on-going investment in underlying roadway infrastructure and include making traffic information more readily available to citizens, motorists, police, policymakers and planners so that better transportation decisions can be made in the near and long term.

Altran, a global specialist in high-tech engineering consulting, has inaugurated at its head office in Barcelona the Altran Excellence Centre for new automotive technologies that will, within the next five next years, recruit 400 consultants who will join the 2,000 automotive specialists operating in 20 countries around the world. The aim of the global excellence centre will be to concentrate on the group's projects related to innovation and electric vehicle development, offering expertise about electric ve

Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) has launched a free mobile phone app it created for download on the iPhone and Android that it claims is the first of its kind in the US, allowing FasTrak account holders access to the same account and customer service features they find on The Toll Roads’ website.

The Mineta Transportation Institute in the US has released its newest research report, Decision Support Framework for Using Value Capture to Fund Public Transit: Lessons from Project-Specific Analysis. The research investigates the viability of land "value capture" (VC) to help generate revenue for transit provision. Five VC mechanisms are evaluated in depth, including tax increment financing (TIF), special assessment districts (SADs), transit impact fees, joint developments, and air rights. The report incl

In view of Germany's ambitious electromobility target - one million electric cars in use in 2020, compared to 4,500 e-cars nationwide at present - the automobile industry plans to offer more than 15 new electric vehicle models in the coming two years, according to the National Platform E-Mobility's (NPE Nationale Plattform Elektromobilität's) third report. First application fields for electrified cars could be car sharing models and public authority vehicle fleets.

At a recent meeting in Copenhagen, hosted by the city and ITS Denmark, the Network of National ITS Associations, a grouping of national ITS interests that currently consists of 26 member organisations, re-elected the sitting chairman, vice chair, and one of the coordinating committee officers. The Ertico – ITS Europe-hosted network now includes on its coordination committee, Jennie Martin, ITS UK as chairman; Norbert Handke, ITS Network Germany – vice chairman and project champion; Christer Karlsson, ITS Sw

Beat the Traffic has been selected as a finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 Americas award, a prestigious list honouring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region. Finalists for the 2012 edition of the Red Herring 100 Americas award are selected based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of compani

Cubic Transportation Systems and the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) have entered into a collaborative partnership to research the next generation of intelligent travel technologies for cities. Cubic will contribute US$500,000 over five years to the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering to fund research done by faculty, students and Cubic Transportation Systems staff. The project aims to achieve a better understanding of the application and use of em