News

The 8th European Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS) in Lyon, France, kicked off yesterday under the theme “Intelligent Mobility - ITS for sustainable transport of persons and goods in urban regions.”

Fifty-seven per cent of drivers believe they will switch to a telematics or ‘black box’ insurance policy in the next five years, according to a new study from Gocompare.com, an insurance comparison website. The study into the relationship between driving habits and insurance found that a wide cross-section of motorists is open to the idea of telematics-based car insurance. In fact, 59 per cent of over 55s said they may switch to one of these policies in the next five years and 19 per cent of all drivers wer

Executives from Veolia Transportation's On-Demand Division, whose SuperShuttle, Compass and Golden Touch franchised brands provide consumer and specialised transport services, and SmartDrive Systems, a leader in fleet safety and operational efficiency, have announced Veolia's purchase of SmartDrive safety and eco-driving technology for the division's 1,631 vans and buses throughout the US.

Streetline and Republic Intelligent Transportation Services, a subsidiary of Siemens, have announced they will work together on the installation and maintenance of Streetline's smart parking platform including its wireless sensor network as it expands throughout the United States. The relationship will leverage Streetline's smart parking technology and Republic's intelligent transportation services, creating what is claimed will be a new ‘go-to-market’ platform that will strengthen customer service and enab

A state-of-the-art joint project spearheaded by the Tomsk Polytechnic Research University and Icelandic professor, Horsteinn I. Sigfusson, who was awarded the Global Energy International prize in 2007, will be showcased at Russia Day as part of the international exhibition Hannover Messe-2012, which is to be held from 23 to 27 of May, 2012 in Germany.

Johnson Controls has announced plans to invest US$138.5 million to convert its battery plant near Toledo, Ohio, in the US, into an Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery facility for Start-Stop and other high efficiency vehicles. Subject to final state and local incentives, the facility will be the company's first such plant in the United States.

IBM has announced that two industry leaders, Asahi Kasei and Central Glass, will join its Battery 500 Project team and collaborate on far-reaching research with the potential to accelerate the switch from gasoline to electricity as the primary power source for vehicles. In 2009, IBM Research pioneered a sustainable mobility project to develop lithium-air battery technology capable of powering a family-sized electric car for approximately 500 miles (800 km) on a single charge.

Phillip Walsh, principal manager, intelligent transport systems at VicRoads in Melbourne, Australia, is joining Sensys Networks as director Australasia, Singapore and Malaysia, effective 11 July, 2011. Most recently, Walsh has been responsible for the operation and development of VicRoads central ITS, as well as management of technical standards and strategic alignment of projects. In his previous role at VicRoads, Walsh was project director, freeway management system, responsible for developing and impleme

Test World Oy is building a year-round winter test centre in Finland which will fulfil the needs and demands of vehicle and tyre manufacturers. The first phase of construction will start in next month and this part of the site will be in operation before the end of the year. The three-phase project, which will create a 30,000 m 2 test centre serving vehicle manufacturers and sub-contractors, will be completed by the end of 2015.

Hi-Tech Solutions (HTS), a developer and provider of optical character recognition (OCR) computer and vision systems, has announced the establishment of HTS Brazil along with its partner Ergos Tecnologia. This new extension of HTS, which will be headquartered in Santos, will focus on answering the needs within the Brazilian markets including traffic, port automation and security, enforcement and safe city opportunities.

Telvent GIT has been selected to expand Alberta Transportation’s current road weather information and traffic monitoring systems. The project will build upon the success of the company’s original development and deployment of a comprehensive road weather information system (RWIS) that has contributed to improved road safety throughout the Canadian Province for the last six years.

GreenRoad, the specialist in fleet driver performance and safety management, has added new functionality to GreenRoad 360 which includes posted speed performance, idling heat maps, and extended data integration with new APIs.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in Europe was two million in Q4-2010. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7 per cent, this number is expected to reach five million by 2015.

Garmin and the shareholders of Navigon have signed an agreement for a subsidiary of Garmin to acquire privately-held navigation provider Navigon. As part of the deal, Garmin is also acquiring one of the top-selling navigation applications for the iPhone and Android platforms – something the company expects will help drive revenue for the combined company going forward.

Fujitsu has announced the July launch of a cloud service that employs location data gathered from vehicles and a variety of sensors and which the company is calling Spatiowl. It consists of two different service types: platform-provisioning service and task-oriented services.