News

Society may already be dangerously over-reliant on satellite radio navigation systems like GPS, the Royal Academy of Engineering warns in a report published yesterday. The range of applications using the technology is now so broad that, without adequate independent backup, signal failure or interference could potentially affect safety systems and other critical parts of the economy.

A Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest distance travelled by a standard production passenger car on a single tank of fuel.

WebTech Wireless has won a contract award for its NextBus intelligent transportation system with the Conseil Intermunicipal de Transport Laurentides (CITL), which provides intra-urban bus services to several communities near Montreal, in Canada.

Continental, the international automotive supplier, has developed a system for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles which will immediately shut off the high-voltage battery in the event of a collision, enabling emergency service personnel to come to the aid of accident victims without the risk of suffering an electric shock.

Telmap has introduced multi-modal routing as part of its involvement with the In-Time project that will pilot and validate an innovative pan-European approach to Real Time Traffic and Travel Information (RTTI) services.

The launch of Latin NCAP has taken place simultaneously in Montevideo, Uruguay and São Paolo, Brazil with the new association releasing test results of nine cars from the popular small vehicle class using the same frontal impact test that is included in Euro NCAP’s test programme. The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), FIA Foundation, ICRT (International Consumer Research and Testing) and GRMF (the Gonzalo Rodriguez Memorial Foundation) with support of the IDB (the Inter-American Developmen

A new world record for the fastest car on ice has been set this week by Nokian Tyres' test driver Janne Laitinen who drove 331.610 km/h (206.05 mph) on the Gulf of Bothnia in Oulu, Finland.

Frito-Lay North America division, the US$13 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo, has started rolling out some of its fully electric delivery trucks in Columbus.

A coalition of leading manufacturers, contractors and associations from various industries called the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) has sent an open letter to US Secretary for Transporation, Ray LaHood, expressing concerns over a major threat to GPS signal accuracy.

A UK firm has struck a major deal with China Highway Engineering Consulting Group Company (CHECSC) for road maintenance materials.

Three major new expressway projects will be offered under the PPP model in the Philippines.

Indonesia's Government is planning to launch 100 public private partnership projects worth a total of US$473 billion. The projects have been announced at the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on PPP for Infrastructure Development 2010.

Tougher testing standards are being introduced in the US to measure vehicle crash performance. The new tests are focusing strongly on side impacts, with the introduction of a new pole impact category.

Road safety continues to improve according to the latest figures from the US Department of Transportation. The recorded data shows that in 2009 the US had the lowest level of traffic fatalities since 1954.

There is an urgent need to align technology standards as cooperative ITS solutions become mainstream, says ITS Australia president Dr Norm Pidgeon