UTC

Chinese ride-hailing company DiDi Chuxing is to expand to 14 cities in Chile by the end of the year, according to a report by China Daily. Mi Yang, DiDi's head of operations in Latin America, says the company is aiming to provide a safe mobility service which will include an emergency hotline allowing passengers to communicate with the team. DiDi says the service will expand in October to the northern cities of Antofagasta, La Serena and Coquimbo; central cities of Rancagua, Talca, Concepcion and Temuco;

European and US city mayors have written an open letter in support of the thousands of people involved in global climate change strikes. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, New York’s Bill de Blasio, Los Angeles’ Eric Garcetti and lord mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, all signed an open letter which said: “We have an opportunity to show, not only that we hear their message, but that they have inspired us to act even faster.” The mayors emphasise that transforming cities to prevent the “climate crisis” will m

The Czech Metrology Institute (CMI) has approved a Weigh in Motion (WiM) system from Kistler to help prevent road damage from trucks. Kistler, a measurement technology company, says its KiTraffic system is being used to track and fine overloaded trucks on the D7 Highway from Prague to the north-west of the country. KiTraffic is comprised of Lineas brand quartz sensors integrated into the road, cameras, hardware and software. If a truck exceeds the weight limit, the system sends the weight and a photograph

A global event which aims to shift cars off the road and encourage people onto alternative transport modes takes place on Sunday. World Car-Free Day 2019 gives metropolitan areas from Bangkok, Thailand to Reykjavik, Iceland, the opportunity to stop traffic and open their streets to pedestrians and cyclists. While some cities, including Vancouver, Canada and Berlin, Germany, hold car-free days at other times of the year, the weekend will see a number of events. In Washington, DC, it is hosted by Commut

Drivewyze is extending its safety notification service by adding mountain corridor safety alerts to more than 100 locations in 20 US states. The technology company says drivers receive in-cab alerts on safe locations to pull over to inspect brakes and prompts to change to a lower gear while showing suggested maximum speeds down steep grades. Product manager Charlie Mohn says: “All of the mountain passes included feature grades of 5% or higher. With our mountain safety alerts, our goal is to help drivers

Ride-share firm Lyft is seeking to head off concerns over passenger safety by requiring its drivers to take a ‘community safety’ course. Lyft has partnered with non-profit anti-sexual assault organisation Rainn, and drivers will be required to complete an education course designed by both parties. Riders and drivers must agree to Lyft’s community guidelines on behaving with care and respect. Passengers reported for violating these will be removed from the platform while drivers will be required to take add

Sleeping while a driverless car speeds you to your destination has long been touted as the dream of the new technology – and something of a nightmare for safety campaigners. A new video from the BBC shows exactly what happens if a driver falls asleep in an autonomous vehicle (AV). In the filmed test, the AV prompts the driver to resume control when approaching roadworks on a motorway. When the driver fails to act, the vehicle comes to a halt and automatically parks in a lay-by. Motor industry research

StreetLight Data is making annual average hourly traffic (AAHT) counts and monthly annual daily traffic (MADT) counts available to transportation planners via its cloud-based software platform InSight. The company says AAHT and MADT help identify and forecast traffic conditions for specific days or months of the year. StreetLight co-founder Laura Schewel says: “Transportation planners have always found it difficult to deliver accurate monthly and daily traffic data due to technological constraints, increa

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has updated a guide which it says helps US cities regulate and manage micromobility companies. NACTO president Seleta Reynolds says: “NACTO’s guidance provides crucial steps for cities to ensure that new mobility options benefit the public good, from best-practice data management to real-world examples on coordinating across neighbouring municipalities.” Guidelines for Regulating Shared Micromobility covers options for regulation for microm

Nearly 50% of all car trips in the most congested US metropolitan areas are less than three miles and could be replaced by micromobility services, says Inrix. The company analysed data points from connected devices to rank the top US, UK and German cities where micromobility services (shared bikes, electric bikes and electric scooters) could have the most significant impact on replacing vehicle trips. Findings from the National Association of City Transportation Officials estimated that scooters are