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The New Zealand Government has achieved its 2017 electric vehicle (EV) registrations target five months early, Transport Minister Simon Bridges and Energy and Resources Minister Judith Collins have announced. Currently around 200 EVs are registered monthly, with a total of 4,027 EVs now registered in New Zealand. If registrations continue to increase, the Government says it will be on track to meet its target of 64,000 EVs registered in New Zealand by the end of 2021. In May 2016, the Government announced i

Waze Android Auto, an integration that allows drivers to use the popular sat nav app directly from the car’s console, has launched in the UK. Waze recommends the fastest routes based on real-time driving data collected from millions of users who, together, help people avoid traffic and save time. The app integration will enable drivers to use voice commands to start their journey, remembers their ‘favourite navigation’ destinations and links to their vehicle’s steering wheel buttons and other console-mounte

Following the release of the UK Government’s final Air Quality Plan, in which it announced that it will ban all petrol and diesel vehicles (including hybrids) from 2040, ITM Power says this represents an historic first step towards cleaner and greener transport in the UK. However, it is calling on the UK Government to provide equivalent financial support for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) infrastructure as it has already provided for plug-in battery electric vehicle (BEV) infrastructure. The company, wh

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has announced its 2017 Toll Excellence Award Winners, recognising innovative strategies to help ease traffic flow, relieve congestion and increase safety for the global driving public. The awards are presented in seven categories and the 2017 winners are: • Indiana Toll Road Concession Company (Indiana) - Administration and Finance • State Road and Tollway Authority (Georgia) - Customer Service and Marketing Outreach • North Texas Tollway

Bombardier Transportation’s fully-automated CITYFLO 650 rail control solution has entered service on second phase of new Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) Line 1 in Kuala Lumpur. Bombardier is equipping over 100 km of the KVMRT network with the technology, which offers operators optimised network capacity and heightened responsive traffic management. The system, which features a centralised control centre system and advanced radio-based communications, has been achieving high levels of availability si

Quarterhill subsidiary International Road Dynamics (IRD) has been awarded a new five-year contract valued at up to US$4 million (CA$5 million) by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure for the continuation of maintenance and services for the Weigh2GoBC Program. The contract also includes options for enhancements and upgrades and for the provision of Weigh2GoBC software, hardware and implementation services to be deployed to additional sites to expand the system network.

Spanish technology group Indra is implementing the European R&D&i project Harmony, with the collaboration of research groups G@TV and TranSYT from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and with the support of Grupo Interbús and Spain's Traffic Department (DGT). The pilot study is being carried out in Madrid to develop new technologies to integrate real-time data from different transport operators and improve multimodal information services. The three-year project, developed with the Polytechnic University of

Norwegian agriculture firm, Yara International and guidance systems builder, Kongsberg Gruppen are to develop the Yara Birkeland, an autonomous and fully-electric container ship. They claim the new vessel will reduce NOx and CO2 emissions and improve road safety by removing up to 40,000 truck journeys in populated urban areas. Yara Birkeland will initially operate as a manned vessel, moving to remote operation in 2019 and expected to be capable of performing fully autonomous operations from 2020. Kongsberg

Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon technologies is to partner with logistics provider Kuehne + Nagel to trial the effectiveness of low-emissions heavy-goods vehicles (HGVs) operating as parts of large fleets with demanding-duty cycles. Funded in part by Innovate UK’s Low-Emission Freight and Logistics Project, the Reduced-Emission Logistics (RED-E-LOG) trial will see one of the UK’s largest fleet operators trial the effectiveness of dedicated (spark-ignited) gas and dual-fuel direct injecti

Toll operator emovis has announced the launch of ‘the first reversible all electronic tolling system’, which is in use along Puerto Rico’s PR-22 highway. The two central lanes of the 10-lane wide mono-gantry can operate in either traffic direction without any human intervention. The gantry automatically detects the traffic direction and reconfigures the AET system accordingly. The system allows road operators to add an extra traffic lane in what is virtually real time while traffic continues to flow uninter