News

Electric vehicle uptake may increase over the next few years to levels far above UK Government targets. In research undertaken by Baringa Partners, nearly a fifth of people said they would consider buying an electric vehicle for their next car, double the Government goal for electric cars to make up nine per cent of the fleet by 2020. However, concerns over purchase price and range mean nearly a third of people believe electric cars will never overtake petrol and diesel vehicles. Baringa is urging the Gover

The US Alliance for Transportation Innovation (ATI21) has appointed Bill Malkes, co-founder and CEO of Gridsmart Technologies to the association’s advisory board. In that role, he will join other transportation leaders in offering strategic guidance as ATI21 continues its efforts to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies to reduce traffic deaths, improve the flow of urban commutes, safely deliver goods to market, eliminate human error and improve mobility for the underserved, disabled and elderl

Canadian Investment company Quarterhill has completed the acquisition of Belgian company iCOMS Detections, an intelligent transportation systems company, which will be integrated into Quarterhill’s wholly-owned subsidiary, International Road Dynamics (IRD). Founded in 1993, iCOMS specialises in the design and manufacture of radar microwave detectors and equipment. The company’s products and services are used to detect and count vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians in urban intersections, as speed measurement

Canada’s TriMet (Tri-County Metropolitan Transit Authority), C-TRAN and Portland Streetcar have launched Hop Fastpass, an open payments, electronic fare collection system implemented by Init. This regional e-fare system spans multiple agencies allowing transit passengers to pay for trips on TriMet and C-TRAN buses, Portland Streetcar, MAX Light Rail, WES Commuter Rail or the C-TRAN Vine BRT system, which all operate within the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area. Hop Fastpass is a fully integrated open pa

Highways England has awarded the South West region 4 year Construction Work Framework Lot 6 (Technology) to Dynniq, comprising Areas 1 and 2, the largest Highways England operating area covering 11 per cent of the strategic road, totalling 230 miles from Cheltenham to Penzance. The technology being installed covers the full range of field based solutions from Highways England’s portfolio including message signs, incident detection, CCTV, trunk road traffic signals, weather systems, emergency telephones, com

The city of Abilene, Texas, in the US is using new adaptive traffic control software from Siemens to increase traffic flow along a heavily travelled corridor, where two state highways meet at two intersections about 750 feet apart with elevated railroads passing between them. SEPAC Peer-to-Peer software allows intersection controllers to share information with one another on traffic and pedestrian conditions, allowing the on-street network of controllers to adaptively respond to changing traffic conditions

The E-470 Public Highway Authority (E-470) in Colorado, US, has selected Kapsch TrafficCom (Kapsch) to supply 18000 ISO 6C toll tags, including both windshield and headlamp sticker tags, for use by its ExpressToll account holders. The tags will accommodate the existing all-electronic Toll (AET) collection system in place on E-470’s 47 miles of roadway, as well as all other toll facilities in the state. Approximately 2.6 million tags are expected to be delivered by 2021 under the five-year agreement. Drivers

According to a new research report on the commercial vehicle telematics market published by MarketsandMarkets the market size is expected to grow from US$7.31 billion in 2017 to US$18.43 billion by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.3 per cent. The major driver of the commercial vehicle telematics market is the increasing adoption for the next-generation telematics protocol (NGTP) enhancing telematics service delivery, the proliferation of telematics technology due to decreasing sensor and

The Victorian government, Australia has awarded CPB Contractors and Bombardier Transportation the contract to deliver the US$790 million (AU$1 billion) Rail Systems Alliance in Melbourne, which includes the roll-out of a 55 kilometre long high capacity signalling (HCS) and communications system. HCS allows trains to safely run closer together, meaning they can run more often. The technology will enable trains every two to three minutes, creating a ‘turn-up-and-go’ train network for Melbourne. The signalling

The US Federal Communications Commission has expanded the spectrum available for vehicular radars that are used for a variety of purposes, including safety applications like collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control. The agency’s action expands the current 76-77 GHz spectrum allocation to include the entire 76-81 GHz band and transitions radars out of the 24 GHz band. This is consistent with the spectrum that is available internationally, avoiding the need to customise the radars in vehicles for diffe

Canadian company eBrake Technologies is preparing its North American launch of a smartphone app which locks drivers from their device when vehicle-related motion is detected and has just launched a pilot program with Canadian mobile network provider Telus. The app, eBrake, requires no in-vehicle hardware; it locks any device on which it is installed and blocks incoming notifications. To unlock the device, users must complete eBrake's patent pending Passenger Unlock Test, something a driver cannot complete w