News

Members of the Slovak Parliament are assessing the new EU regulation which introduces the electronic safety chip as part of the mandatory car equipment from 2015. The chip is intended to save lives of car accident victims, as it will automatically call the rescue service in case in the event of a serious crash, relaying the time and place of the accident and exact location of the vehicle.

Ontario-headquartered Pelmorex Media, parent company of The Weather Network and MétéoMédia, has acquired Beat The Traffic, Californian provider of vehicle traffic reporting solutions for broadcast media and consumers. The acquisition gives Pelmorex Media a significant boost to its expertise in traveller information and access to technology and patents that will enhance the services that will be provided by Travelers Network, to be launched in late October. Travelers Network will be established as its own d

US headquartered Peek Traffic Corporation has announced that its VideoTrak-IQ video-based vehicle detection system has been approved by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). VideoTrak-IQ combines multi-channel viewing, easy set-up and multiple individual zone settings, and offers the ability to conveniently modify the configurations of up to 26 detection zones per channel. The colour camera delivers the powerful option of lens control over the coax. Zoom and focus settings can be controlled from

The United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) has announced a series of webinars for its Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS) program. The webinars will review the conclusions of an extensive benefits/cost analysis, three draft concepts of operations devised by the program to describe Transformative Concepts, as well as a summary of the results of an eco-approach field experiment. The webinars are free and open to the public, but interested attendees need to re

GreenRoad, provider of driver performance management for fleets, has partnered with fleet GPS tracking provider, GPS Insight, to offer fleet tracking capability, as part of the GreenRoad driver performance management service. GreenRoad will integrate the GPS Insight solution and offer it to customers as GreenRoad Advanced Tracking. “The comprehensiveness, flexibility, and effectiveness of the GPS Insight service are truly impressive. Now, with the GPS Insight partnership, we can offer the tools to also c

Following the introduction of its real-time online bus tracking system, Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) in California has launched a new free app for iPhone and Android that enables passengers to track any bus approaching a bus stop. RT’s online real-time bus tracking allows RT call center specialists and passengers to view the location of any bus moving in real time on a virtual map and sign up for email or text alerts telling them when the bus has arrived at a given stop. According to Mike Mattos of Sa

New research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online service indicates that production of passenger vehicles (cars and light trucks) rose from 74.4 million in 2010 to 76.8 million in 2011, and 2012 may bring an all-time high of 80 million or more vehicles. Global sales of passenger vehicles increased from 75.4 million to 78.6 million over the same period, with a projected 81.8 million in 2012. The major driver of increased production and sales are the so-called emerging economies, e

Electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, is to supply Thai power company, Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), with their long-range, all-electric, five-passenger BYD e6s and charging pedestals. MEA is one of the three largest power companies in Thailand providing power for the capital Bangkok and two other large provinces and is promoting the development of electric vehicle industries in Thailand.

In a bid to improve traffic congestion and reduce violations, Shanghai is to increase its traffic cameras by 200 annually. The new cameras will be added to locations and crossroads with frequent congestion and violations and to transportation hubs, said police. Shanghai successfully introduced traffic cameras in 1996; by the early 2000s, traffic violation cases on some roads and intersections had dropped by up to 80 percent, and the city now has more than 1,900 sets of surveillance cameras at local crossroa

German headquartered Hoeft & Wessel has received an order for the Almex e-ticketing system from French bus company Les Cars Air France, operated by Aérolis, a joint subsidiary of Keolis and Air France, to be installed on buses operating between Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris Orly and the city of Paris. The order, the first in France for Hoeft & Wessel, comprises a total of 55 on-board ticket vending terminals with ticket printers, together with application software and integration into the back-office sy

OmniAir Certification Services (OCS) has granted 3M the first OmniAir certified awards for products tested in its 6C-for-Tolling Certification Program, to be presented at 80th IBTTA Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida on 10 September 2012. Based on the ISO/IEC 18000-6 (Type C) RFID protocol, the 6C certification program is designed to ensure tolling tag and reader interoperability (IOP) across equipment vendors and toll facilities that choose to deploy equipment certified as compliant to the 6C requirements

European Mobility Week (16-22 September 2012) sees the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) reaffirming its stance that a long-term commitment to invest in public transport is key to reducing congestion in European cities and encouraging the development of sustainable economies. With around 80% of Europeans expected to be living in urban environments by 2020, public transport is essential for ensuring quality of life and delivering green growth. Encouraging a modal shift from private motori