UTC

The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) will deploy a two- and four-wheeler rental and ride sharing solutions to help improve access to six metro stations in Bengaluru, India. The service is also intended to alleviate congestion and will be available from August. This project stems from an agreement with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and will take place at Mysore Road, Yelchenahalli, Banashankar, MG Road, Indiranagar and Mantri Square stations. The partnership will present findings from the trial to t

PTV has opened an office in Warsaw, Poland, with the stated aim of providing a local port of call for customers in transportation and logistics. The central and eastern Europe office will be run by newly appointed managing directors Peter Möhl and Martyna Abendrot. Möhl says: “We see a lot of potential in the Eastern European market for the development of master plans for smart cities with innovative mobility stations and services for the mobility of the future.” Möhl has worked for PTV at its German

BMW subsidiary ReachNow has integrated car sharing and ride hailing within its app in a bid to provide members in Seattle with an alternative to car ownership. The app allows users to access the company’s free-floating car sharing service ‘Drive’ and its ‘Ride’ ride-hailing option. For Drive, members can choose from a fleet of BMW, BMW I and Mini vehicles while paying by the minute, hour or day. Meanwhile, Ride offers a choice between an immediate, on-demand service or a scheduled pick up from 20 min

Chinese bike sharing company Ofo is scaling back its US operations and has laid off employees from multiple departments. The move, according to a report by Quartz, will allow the company to refocus on markets in a bid to become profitable. The start-up plans to continue operating in US cities such as Seattle, San Diego and New York. According to Quartz, the company is also leaving Australia and Israel and reducing operations in the UK. The company operates yellow bicycles which riders can rent thro

Telensa’s smart streetlight controls are being deployed in 64,000 LED lights in Edinburgh, Scotland. Called Planet, the new system is intended to allow street poles to act as hubs for smart city sensors. Planet consists of wireless nodes which connect individual lights, dedicated wireless connectivity and a central management platform. According to Telensa, the solution identifies and tracks faults in real time, which will reduce complaints from residents about broken street lights and remove the ne

Waze's live alert data is now available in location intelligence company Esri’s ArcGIS marketplace. The service is available to members of the Waze Connected Citizens programme. The sharing of publicly-available traffic and road condition information is intended to help governments make infrastructure decisions and improve the efficiency of incident response. Through the agreement, Waze’s live feed of mapped traffic alerts and information on accidents, congestion and street damage is supported by Arc

Volvo Car Mobility will launch its M car sharing service in Sweden and the US in Spring 2019 to help provide an alternative to car ownership. The brand is intended to offer users a personalised on-demand service via an app. M is developing proprietary technology which asks users about their needs and preferences. The vehicle will draw learnings and data from the company’s car sharing service in Sweden called Sunfleet, which operates 1,700 cars. The service will be integrated with M from next year and wi

Virtuo has launched a mobile car rental service in London, UK. A Mercedes A-Class vehicle can be booked via the app for 30-mile trips outside the capital, starting at £35. The company says the service requires no paperwork and no hidden fees. Drivers can communicate with the company’s London-based customer service team through the app, 24 hours a day, the firm says.

China-based DiDi Chuxing will deploy its ride-matching app in Japan in partnership with investor SoftBank. The joint venture, DiDi Mobility Japan, intends to offer on-demand services and smart transportation to citizens and tourists in the autumn. Stephen Zhu, vice president of Didi Chuxing and CEO of DiDi Mobility Japan, says the new platform is intended to help taxi companies improve their efficiency, enhance user satisfaction and build more broad-based demand for taxi services. Through the agree

Technology company Grab and the National University of Singapore (NUS) has set up an artificial intelligence (AI) lab to help develop smarter cities in South-east Asia. The partnership intends to solve challenges such as congestion and the liveability of cities in the region. The Grab-NUS AI Lab, part of an initial joint investment of S$6m (£3.3m), will utilise data from the Grab platform to provide insights into how citizens move across cities. It will also be used to map out traffic patterns and ident