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Technology company Parsons has created a new role of chief development officer, with a focus on transportation. Mike Johnson, previously president of Parsons Infrastructure, will oversee sales of the company’s transportation management system, Intelligent NETworks (iNET). Johnson has been with Parsons for 28 years, and led the creation of the company’s connected cities solutions, Platforms as a Service. He is a member of the Energy Security Leadership Council and SAFE’s Autonomous Vehicles Task Force. In t

UK drivers could earn £500 a month by making their idle vehicle available to renters on Turo’s peer-to-peer car-sharing service, the company says. Turo carried out a poll of 2,000 UK motorists which revealed the average Brit spends under nine hours a week behind the wheel. UK drivers also leave their car unused for three days each week, the company adds. Xavier Collins, Turo’s UK director, says many drivers spend a small fortune on cars but never realise their full potential. “For the vast majority of

Saber, a UK highway condition and inventory specialist, has developed skid analysis software to help reduce the risk of road traffic accidents. SkidAnalyser, part of a suite of software tools for managing highway survey data, is cloud-based and analyses information collected by Saber’s road safety vehicles. These measure levels of skid resistance in wet conditions. The company says the idea is to make raw data from surveys available within days of collection – and this can in turn alert highway auth

McCain has appointed Fedrico Hormozi, a former senior manager for California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), director of its ITS solutions group. The firm says Hormozi’s team will deploy equipment, and carry out hardware and software systems integration as well as troubleshooting. Also, the team will provide input on new product design, development and functionality. During his 20-year career at Caltrans, Hormozi served in several senior management roles including chief of the ITS engineering a

Indian ride-sharing firm Ola has expanded its service to three cities in New Zealand and is offering passengers 50% discounts off journeys for the first month. The company says its app comes with safety features which will allow riders in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to share location coordinates with friends, family and emergency services. Passengers can also be picked up from Auckland and Wellington airports. Ola says it intends to improve the app based on customer feedback. It can be downl

The Regional Transportation Commission of South Nevada (RTC South Nevada) is offering employees at sports company Fanatics who work at the Northgate Distribution Center (NDC) cheaper rides via Lyft. RTC South Nevada is hoping that the six-month initiative will encourage workers to use multimodal options for commuting to the logistics and distribution facility in North Las Vegas. Fanatics was one of the first e-commerce tenants at the NDC in 2016. As part of the six-month programme, employees wi

Getaround has expanded its peer-to-peer car-sharing service in San Diego in the US. The service allows car owners to earn money by renting vehicles to people in their neighbourhood. The company says it expects many car owners who subscribe to the service to earn more than £1,000 per month. Each car is equipped with Getaround Connect, a proprietary technology which allows renters to locate and unlock the vehicle by using the company’s app. James Correa, the firm’s general manager of Southern Califor

Volkswagen (VW), Mobileye and Champion Motors are to deploy a self-driving taxi service in Israel over the next four years. Operating under the name ‘New Mobility in Israel,’ the service is being tested as part of a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) model which uses autonomous electric vehicles (EV). Mobileye, an Intel company, will equip VW’s EVs with a level-4 autonomous vehicle kit – a driverless solution which consists of hardware, driving policy, safety software and map data. Champion Motors, an Isr

Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual