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The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has plans for multiple pilot deployments of connected vehicle technology in real-world settings throughout the country, bringing the promise of connected vehicles to some US roads even sooner. The pilots will serve as initial implementations of connected vehicle technology with the aim of delivering near-term safety, mobility, and environmental benefits. In early 2015, the USDOT will seek proposals from a wide variety of communities interested in being part of

Investment from the EBRD and help from Austria and the EU is helping Skopje, the capital city of FYR Macedonia, to upgrade one of its major streets, install a modern traffic management system and improve road safety. Although 45 million journeys are made on the city’s public transport each year, the growing number of vehicles on the streets has made improving congestion a priority for the municipal authorities. In addition, inadequate safety measures and the high volume of pedestrians mean that road safe

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) is to conduct a six month trial of over-height vehicle sensors along a stretch of Upper Bukit Timah Road in a bid to prevent drivers hitting overhead road structures with a 4.5m clearance. If the pilot is successful it may be extended to more locations. When the system senses an approaching over-height vehicle, it will display a visual warning to alert the driver that his vehicle may hit the structure. Since 2010, there have been 24 incidents involving over-h

Texting while driving with Google Glass is clearly a distraction, a new University of Central Florida UCF) study has concluded, but there is a twist. In the study, texting Glass users outperformed smartphone users when regaining control of their vehicles after a traffic incident. The study, conducted in cooperation with the Air Force Research Laboratory, is the first scientific look at using Google Glass to text while driving. Distracted drivers are a hazard on the road and according to the National S

The One-Stop Shop for Traveller Information (OSS), a website that integrates weather and road information from multiple western states, developed at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute (WTI), has been awarded an international award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America). The OSS provides travellers with current road information that does not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Combined with real-time weather information, the OSS provides motorists with

Digital security specialist Gemalto has been selected by China Mobile to provide its UpTeq NFC multi-tenant SIMs to protect consumer credentials used for mobile contactless applications, starting with mass transit services in Beijing. Gemalto pre-loads the SIMs with the Beijing transport application and enables over 22 million daily commuters in the city to travel on buses and the metro by simply tapping their smartphones on the contactless ticket reader. Beijing commuters are demanding convenient

The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) has launched its manifesto outlining the Institution’s proposals and views on key issues affecting the industry. Making the Journey - A Manifesto for Transport highlights the benefits of this sector to the UK’s economy and society and calls for a national transport strategy to provide clear direction and certainty for UK transport policy. It also points out the need for a longer-term view and commitment to future funding for the UK’s transpo

US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has announced US$100 million in competitive grants to 24 recipients in 19 states to significantly improve bus service and bus facilities in urban and rural communities where residents depend heavily on public transportation. The grants are provided through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Ladders of Opportunity Initiative, which supports the modernisation and expansion of transit bus service across the nation, with the purpose of connecting disadvantaged an

The all-new Ford Mondeo will be equipped with a raft of safety features, including technology that is able to detect people in the road ahead and – if the driver does not respond to warning sounds and displays – automatically applies the brakes. Pedestrian Detection is among a raft of new features and improvements detailed by Ford which enhance the Mondeo. The system is part of the Pre-Collision Assist package that also introduces Active Braking, which can autonomously apply braking to help mitigate rear

The UK’s Southern Railway has extended the use of its ‘the key’ smartcard across the entire Oyster network in London. Passengers on the Southern rail franchise can now use the single smart card from most stations to travel by rail, bus and Tube across the capital. Supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems, ‘the key’ was first trialled in November 2011 on Southern’s Brighton to Seaford line. It was subsequently rolled out across most of their network for journeys outside the Oyster network and those termin

The I-80 Smart Corridor is to use 133 energy-saving, low-light-pollution signs on the 31.4km (19.5miles) route between the Oakland Bay Bridge and the Carquinez Bridge in California. Due to open next year, the US$80m project will see adaptive metering at 44 on-ramps (with bus priority and HOV bypass) and the new signs will be used for lane management and to advise drivers of incidents and variable speed limits. The system will be managed from a centralised control room in Oakland and the traffic signa

Vitronic has won major enforcement contracts in Belarus and Abu Dhabi. Safe Roads of Belarus, the country’s national road safety authority, has awarded Vitronic Nordic East a contract for 60 PoliScan laser-based speed enforcement units, which use Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology to detect violations. According to Vitronic, the readings obtained are more reliable and fairer to drivers than those from conventional radar systems. The automated enforcement management system across the whole

In recognition of the growing importance of machine vision techniques in traffic management technology, ITS International’s publisher (Route One) is working with the organiser of the Vision Show (Stuttgart, Germany 6-8 November) to produce a special publication for the show and daily video reports. While machine vision technology is well established in other sectors, applications in transportation have been slow to arrive but are now quickly catching up. The transport-focused publication will be handed

Thatcham, Britain’s leading insurance-related automotive research centre, has given top marks to the self-braking system on Mercedes latest C-Class car saying it will provide major benefits to road safety and motorists’ insurance premiums. During testing for the Euro NCAP rating, the braking system on the latest avoided collisions at speeds of up to 40km/h (25mph) by detecting an object in its path and bringing the vehicle to a halt without any driver input. To date many autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

Australian enforcement company Redflex has scooped two major orders in the Antipodes. RedflexPoint-to-point cameras are now providing average speed enforcement on two major carriageways leading into the city of Adelaide, South Australia; in both directions on the 13km stretch of the two-lane Dukes Highway, with a further two on 51km of the dual carriageway Port Wakefield Road. The cameras installed on Dukes Highway not only monitor traffic in both directions on the two-lane road, they are capture images