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Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is studying selling a stake of just under 50 per cent in the country's motorways to allow it to develop the network's infrastructure more efficiently, Der Spiegel magazine said on Saturday. Ownership of the 13,000 km network, the world's second largest behind the United States jointly shared between the federal government and the country's 16 states. The Finance Ministry is considering selling off all but a tiny fraction of the latter share, leaving Berlin w

WSP /Parsons Brinckerhoff will design a new bridge in Pensacola, Florida as part of a design-build team led by Skanska. The project is being undertaken on behalf of the Florida Department of Transportation. The US$398.5 million project includes design and construction of new westbound and eastbound bridges on Route 30 (US 98) to replace the existing three-mile-long bridge that links the communities of Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. The project also includes shared-use paths on the outside of each bridge, rec

Samsung Electronics and Harman International Industries have entered into a definitive agreement under which Samsung will acquire Harman, which will give Samsung a significant presence in the large and rapidly growing market for connected technologies, particularly automotive electronics, which has been a strategic priority for Samsung, and is expected to grow to more than US$100 billion by 2025. Harman has extensive expertise in connected car solutions, with more than 30 million vehicles currently equip

The District of Saanich’s Police Department in British Columbia, Canada, has awarded Global Traffic Technologies (GTT) a contract for the implementation of its latest-generation GPS-enabled Opticom pre-emption solution, which works alongside intersection controllers to help ensure emergency vehicles can move through intersections rapidly and safely. Saanich Fire Department is already a user of the Opticom system. The system includes a GPS component for location, direction, speed and ETA, as well as wirel

Siemens ITS has secured a place on the new Traffic Management Technology (TMT2) framework agreement developed by the Crown Commercial Service to provide public sector customers with access to industry leading, innovative traffic management solutions. The new framework will deliver local, regional and national traffic management technologies through a qualified supply chain ensuring reliability and resilience. TMT2 aims to provide value for the nation through outstanding commercial capability and quality

Data collected through connected cars will present automakers with tremendous business opportunities to enhance customer experiences while at the same time also posing inherent risks, according to a new KPMG report, Your Connected Car is Talking: Who's Listening? KPMG's national automotive leader, Gary Silberg, notes that, while OEMs can use data collected through connected vehicles to optimise performance, reliability and safety of vehicles they produce, failure to get cyber-security right could have a

Digital security specialist Gemalto is partnering with Colorado, Idaho, Maryland and Washington DC to pilot digital drivers licences (DDL). The company has been awarded a US government grant to pilot the development of a smartphone-based credential in these states. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has also awarded a two-year grant to the project. The digital driver's license serves as a secure, companion version of the physical ID card. The pilot will address four main use ca

Tolling as a Service (TAAS) VeriToll has launched CrowdToll, a crowdsourced image review technology that aims to cut image review costs by more than half while achieving higher levels of accuracy and a quicker turnaround. VeriToll is currently in the middle of its second pilot program with two more in the pipeline in order to fully validate its technology prior to an initial industry offering. Leveraging the sharing economy as Uber, AirBNB and Etsy do, CrowdToll's crowdsourced reviewer pool exists 24/

ITS Australia has welcomed the National Transport Commission (NTC) roadmap of reform for automated vehicle regulation and the goal of removing a ‘patchwork of conflicting requirements in different states and territories’. It follows a recent meeting of the Transport and Infrastructure Council in which Ministers agreed to a series of reform initiatives to facilitate the increased testing and trialling of automated vehicles in Australia. In a statement, NTC’s chief executive Paul Retter said that remov

Siemens’ Sapphire journey time measurement system for traffic monitoring using Bluetooth technology is being installed on three main corridors into the centre of Coventry as part of a new UK project to assess how connected vehicles interact on key corridors leading into the city centre from the national road network. Led by Coventry City Council, the intelligent variable message systems (iVMS) project will draw expertise from Coventry University’s Centre for Mobility and Transport in collaboration with

Omnitron Systems, which manufactures fibre connectivity products, is to partner with Axis Communications in a collaboration which will see Omnitron’s equipment interoperate with Axis cameras.

Plans to double fines and penalties for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving send a strong signal to drivers – but better enforcement is essential, says the Freight Transport Association (FTA). The Department for Transport (DfT) has released its response to the consultation on ‘Penalties for use of a Hand Held Mobile Phone Whilst Driving’ to which FTA contributed. DfT proposes that offenders receive:

Vision 2016, recently held in Stuttgart, recorded a 13 per cent increase in visitors, with almost 10,000 visitors from 58 countries during the three days, which its organisers say underscores its position as a leading trade fair for machine vision. This year’s major topics, embedded vision, hyperspectral imaging and 3D machine vision attracted many visitors.