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More than 160 senior delegates from the automotive and transportation industry met last week to present, discuss and invent the future of mobility during Frost & Sullivan’s interactive workshop Urban Mobility 3.0: New Urban Mobility Business Models. The two-day event summarised the current and future developments in the industry and highlighted new and innovative mobility concepts. Frost & Sullivan Partner and Global Practice Director, Sarwant Singh, opened the debate at the House of Commons in London, com

The UK’s underused M6 toll road could be opened free to drivers stuck in congested traffic on the M6, it has been revealed. Toll road operators Midland Expressway have reportedly offered to clear the path to help relieve traffic jams on the M6 if the Government releases it from its commitment to part-finance the M54 link road. The company, a subsidiary of Australian company Macquarie Atlas Roads, has debts of £1.03 billion, which mature in 2015, and as part of its 50-year concession agreement would have to

More cameras and sensors are to be installed in Chesapeake, Virginia, in an effort to prevent traffic bottlenecks throughout the city. The city won a US$2 million federal grant to update the traffic management centre (TMC). The plan calls for adding about twenty cameras at key intersections, together with additional traffic sensors at intersections to aid the timing of traffic signals. Several intersections on main roads are already linked by wireless communication. The TMC serves as the command and control

The Department of Transport (DoT) in Abu Dhabi has begun the installation and deployment of a traffic control system (TCS) in Mohammed Bin Zayed City, at a cost of around US$20 million. The system is now operational at seven of the city’s 34 intersections following a pilot project and includes the deployment of smart and integrated traffic/pedestrian signals as well as a video surveillance system. The system will help enhance traffic in the city by reducing congestion, boosting the safety level for all road

In a deal worth around US£7.8 million, Siemens is to supply one of Poland’s most densely populated cities, Bialystock, with an inner-city traffic management system to optimise the growing volume of private vehicle traffic and increase the efficiency of its public transportation. Siemens’ Sitraffic Concert traffic management system will be installed to improve traffic flows. A new traffic management centre will receive data from more than 145 intersections, outstations, red light enforcement systems or publ

In a bid to tackle the growing problem of collisions caused by deer, transport officials in the Japanese island of Hokkaido have taken drastic action. As well as spraying wolf urine near roads and railways they will also be broadcasting the roar of lions to try to keep the deer away. A spokesman for Nexco East, which runs the island's highways, said: 'Even though we have increased the height of fences to 2.5 metres from 1.5 metres, fences sometimes break because of heavy snow, so we need this stop-gap measu

UK company Xylem Water Solutions has invested in TomTom fleet management technology to improve customer service and boost its green credentials, by rolling out an advanced TomTom system, featuring integrated tracking, navigation and vehicle diagnostic devices, across its 192-strong commercial fleet. TomTom’s ecoPLUS fuel diagnostic device reads fuel consumption data directly from vehicles on the road to help optimise mpg. This information, along with data on speeding, harsh braking and steering, is fed bac

TrafficLand, US supplier of live traffic video has launched Broadcast 4.0, a new service for TV station news operations to customise content for on-air traffic and weather reporting. TrafficLand Broadcast 4.0 geo-locates real-time video from Department of Transportation cameras on Google Maps with traffic flow-data. Developed for the Apple iPad platform by TrafficLand and its development partner CLO Software, the application enables news producers and reporters to monitor local road conditions and quickly p

Mexico City is to benefit from the latest public transport management technology, thanks to a contract recently awarded to Spanish consultancy and technology company Indra. The contract, valued at US$20.8 million, covers the supply, installation and commissioning of Indra’s comprehensive Operations Assistance System (OAS) for the city’s Metrobús system, together with technical support and maintenance for a period of ten years. The 95 km system has 151 stations and carries over 800,000 passengers per day.

Drivers using the 495 Express Lanes high occupancy toll road in north Virginia will benefit from the announcement that the speed limit is to be increased 65 miles per hour. The speed increase follows extensive safety studies and will help drivers save even more time when travelling on the Capital Beltway. The speed limit on the mainline Beltway lanes will remain at 55 mph. The 495 Express Lanes operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dynamic pricing based on real-time traffic conditions manages the de

Four new solutions based largely on existing technology could drastically improve the safety and efficiency of travel and transportation by 2025, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group. The report, Connected World: Transforming Travel, Transportation and Supply Chain, is the product of a cross-industry effort involving over fifty leading companies from the travel, transportation, and information and communications technology industries. It out

BMW Group recently brought its ActiveE program to China to prepare for the future commercialisation of electric vehicles in the country. Twenty Beijing residents selected to participate in the project received the keys to the all-electric car they will be driving over the next year. Fifteen users in the southern city of Shenzhen will also get cars at the end of June to give the company an idea of how the model operates in the city's hot, humid climate, balancing the results from the test in the cooler, dri