News

D'Artagnan Consulting has been awarded a contract by the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) to prepare a detailed state-wide road usage charge (RUC) demonstration implementation plan in preparation for a project expected to start in 2017. The company is working with Berk Consulting, WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff and several DBE firms and the work will entail updating the WSTC body of materials assessing RUC since 2012 that was successfully completed at the direction of the State Legislature.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released a solicitation for a full and open competition to procure services for non-personal, technical support services for the Connected Vehicle Pilot deployment and program evaluation. The Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment program includes three phases: Phase 1: Concept Development Phase, Phase 2: Design/Build/Test (for which this solicitation will ascertain that the objectives of the program are met), and Phase 3: Maintain and Operate.

German consumers are concerned about the practicalities of owning an electric car, according to a survey by market research company GfK. For 54 per cent of those interested in buying an electric car, purchase premiums and tax benefits were not a reason to choose one. However, three out of four consumers looking to buy a new car considered the environmental aspects and low noise of an electric vehicle to be important. Lower maintenance costs compared to petrol or diesel vehicles were also key, while 72 per c

Traffic management agencies and city planners will soon have access to real-time data to better manage traffic flows on the streets of Cebu City and Metro Manila. The World Bank, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Grab, a third-party ride booking app provider, have launched the OpenTraffic initiative, which it is hoped will help address traffic congestion and road safety challenges.

The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has released its circular on Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (TSRGD), which it says represents a significant contribution to the Government's deregulatory programme. TSRGD prescribes the designs and conditions of use for traffic signs, including road markings, traffic signals, pedestrian, cycle and equestrian crossings, to be lawfully placed on or near roads in England, Scotland and Wales.

New connected vehicle data environments are now available in the US. Department of Transportation's Research Data Exchange (RDE). This web-based data resource collects, manages, and provides access to archived and real-time multi-source and multi-modal data to support the development and testing of intelligent transportation system applications. The RDE now houses the following three additional data environments:

Connected car verification systems provider Spirent Communications is to continue its technical partnership with Aston Martin Racing throughout the 2016 World Endurance Championship season. Spirent is working with Aston Martin Racing during testing to evaluate automotive technologies on the 2016 V8 Vantage GTE race cars, such as the accuracy and performance of GPS receivers and interference monitoring.

The NFC Forum and the Global Certification Forum (GCF) have entered into a cooperation agreement that represents a major step toward the objective of providing interoperable contactless public transport access and ticketing using a broad range of NFC-enabled devices worldwide. The agreement allows both GCF and NFC Forum labs to run NFC Forum analogue and NFC tag test cases and recognise test results across both organisations.

UK and US transport operator FirstGroup has placed an order worth US$102 million (£70 million) for 305 new vehicles, 87 per cent of which will be Department for Transport approved ‘low carbon certified’. First Bus estimates this will save 4 million kg of CO2 per year. The 2016/17 investment will bring the company’s fleet of low carbon certified vehicles to around 1,000, believed to be one of the largest in the UK, saving in total an estimated 14.5 million kg of CO2 annually.

Texas A&M University has announced plans to build a new research campus focusing on several new technologies, including driverless and connected vehicles, robotics and large scale testing, as well as smart power grids and water systems. University chancellor John Sharp announced the US$150 million investment in the centre that will serve as a hub to help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering a new path toward a college degree.

The IEEE has published is 1609.3-2016 Standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) - Networking Services, which defines network and transport layer services that support secure WAVE data exchange, including addressing and routing.

Sydney, Australia is to trial connected technology in a bid to tackle congestion by reducing the number of times trucks stop at traffic signals. Minister for Roads Duncan Gay says the technology should improve travel time at more than 100 intersections across Sydney, resulting in smoother overall traffic flow for all road users.

In the wake of low inflation and competitive pressure constraining tariffs, Moody's Investors Service expects that European toll roads and airports will benefit from healthy growth in traffic volumes in 2016, albeit lower than in 2015. Traffic volume growth remains critical to the credit quality and financial performance of toll road operators and airports.