News

Australia’s New South Wales Centre for Road Safety is to embark on a trial that will allow trucks to transmit and receive warnings about road hazards. The Cooperative Intelligent Transport Initiative (CITI) project will trial Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (CITS) technology along a 42 kilometre major transport link in the Wollongong region. Historically, most crashes along this route involve heavy vehicles, so the first phase of the five-year trial will include 30 heavy vehicles fitted with CI

The USDOT will hold its next two connected vehicle PlugFests on 13-15 May in Farmington Hills, Michigan and on 24-26 June in Palo Alto, California. PlugFests provide venues for vendor-to-vendor connected vehicle device testing to help ensure that devices and systems meet the base standard requirements and level of interoperability necessary for the Southeast Michigan Connected Vehicle Test Bed Deployment 2014 Project.

Congestion on US Interstate highways added over US $9.2 billion in operational costs to the trucking industry in 2013, according to research released by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). ATRI, the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research institute, utilised motor carrier financial data along with billions of anonymous truck GPS data points to calculate congestion delays and costs on each mile of Interstate roadway. Delay totalled over 141 million hours of lost productivity, which equ

Devices used by traffic control systems are vulnerable to being hacked, according to computer security specialist IOActive. Hackers could gain complete control of these devices and cause traffic issues for the cities in the US, UK, France, Australia, China and beyond.

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has applauded the Obama Administration for including language in its surface transportation reauthorisation proposal, the Grow America Act, released earlier today that would ‘eliminate the prohibition on tolling existing free Interstate highways.’

Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas will be at the iMobility Challenge public event at the ITS European Congress on Monday 16 June. The Williams racing driver will set a score in an eco-driving competition in a real test drive in the city of Helsinki. An OBD reader plugged into the OBD port in the car will enable the Enerfy system used in the competition to calculate his eco-driving performance. Enerfy enables drivers to share and compare their driving with others, regardless of what type of the

The Mexican government has unveiled a US$587 billion national infrastructure plan for 2014-18. "The national infrastructure plan includes 743 programs," said finance and public credit minister Luis Videgaray during the plan's presentation.

Q-Free reported 22 per cent increase in revenues to US$28 million in the first quarter of 2014, reflecting continued growth for products and service and maintenance but lower projects revenues. Operating profit (EBIT) increased to US$166,000 from an operating loss of US$8.8 million in the first quarter of 2013; pre-tax profit improved to US$333,000 from a loss of US$9.1 million in the same period last year.

Growth in demand in its Eastern European market has led French electronics specialist Lacroix Group to enlarge its factory in Kwidzyn, Poland. The new factory will be inaugurated on 12 May and will be home to the company’s electronics division, as well as Lactoix Sofrel, specialising in remote monitoring of technical facility networks, and Lacroix Signalisation, which provides traffic management and control, traffic signs and street furniture for the transportation market.

The UK government has announced plans to invest US$840 million ultra-low emission vehicle industry. It is hoped that this will help drivers both afford and feel confident about using electric cars. Announcing the funding during a visit to the Transport Research Laboratory, Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister said: “Owning an electric car is no longer a dream or an inconvenience. Manufacturers are turning to this new technology to help motorists make their everyday journeys green and clean.”

According to the latest report by Global Industry Analysts, Intelligent Transportation Systems: A Global Strategic Business Report, the global market for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is projected to reach US$26.3 billion by 2020, driven by continued rise in vehicular traffic and the need to regulate traffic flow, rising impetus for enhancing road safety, and escalating socio-environmental implications of traffic congestion.

Pitney Bowes has entered into a multi-year partnership with traffic information provider Inrix to deliver advanced location intelligence solutions through the company’s traffic intelligence platform. By integrating location capabilities with traffic analysis and delivering this information through Inrix’s mobile app, Inrix and Pitney Bowes will enhance the driving experience of today’s connected drivers, enabling them to make location-based decisions in real-time.