News

General Electric (GE) has announced a partnership with Singapore-based electric vehicle research centre EV World to collaborate on technology development and strategic initiatives to support the roll out of electric vehicles (EV) in Malaysia and Singapore. The companies said the collaboration would lead to a research and development centre of excellence for EV technology. “It will also allow both parties to work hand-in-hand to bring to market commercial applications for EVs to Malaysia and Singapore,” they

A new cycle counter on the north end of the Fremont Bridge in Seattle will help the city gather better data about bike traffic along one of the city's most popular routes for two-wheeled commuters, Seattle Department of Transport (SDOT) officials say. Supplied by European company Eco-counter, an Eco Totem, a seven-foot high totem with electronic counter that uses sensors in the road to count cycles in both directions, and feed a real-time digital display of that number during the day. The year-to-date total

UK company Clearview Traffic, jointly with Jacobs and Telford & Wrekin Council, has won the Road Safety Scheme Award at the Highways Magazine Excellence Awards 2012. The award, for the Chetwynd road safety scheme, was presented at the annual Highways Magazine Excellence Awards ceremony and recognises the significant impact this project has had in improving road safety on the A41, Chetwynd, Warwickshire. This safety scheme originated as a result of a collision investigation route-based study carried out by J

TTS Italia, the Italian ITS Association, will host a joint stand for several of its members, including Autostrade Tech, Famas System, Magneti Marelli, Pluservice, Telespazio and 5t who will present their lastest ITS solutions and products for transport and road safety. Fondazione Formit will also be on the stand with the I‐Tour project in which TTS Italia is participating as stakeholder and final user. Several companies from the Piemonte Region will also be participating via the Piemonte Agency for investme

ITS Romania will host on its stand a live eCall demonstrator that will present the eCall system implemented at national level during the Harmonised eCall European pilot project. eCall enables a vehicle to automatically dial Europe’s 112 emergency phone number in case of a severe accident, while sending a Minimum Set of Data to the most appropriate Public Service Answering Point (PSAP). The Romanian eCall live demonstrator will show how an eCall is being handled by the 112 PSAP. This will be done by setting

ITS Romania will host on its stand a live eCall demonstrator that will present the eCall system implemented at national level during the Harmonised eCall European pilot project. eCall enables a vehicle to automatically dial Europe’s 112 emergency phone number in case of a severe accident, while sending a Minimum Set of Data to the most appropriate Public Service Answering Point (PSAP). The Romanian eCall live demonstrator will show how an eCall is being handled by the 112 PSAP. This will be done by setting

RealTraffic Technology will introduce a web-based application called Alert511.com at the ITS World Congress. This application, which generates real-time congestion alerts using video streams available from the web, has been made recently available to commuters in Quebec, Canada. It is based on RealTraffic’s core technology that collects real-time traffic information such as speed and flow using any existing camera network already installed along roads. This versatile solution does not require installation o

On the ITS-UK National Pavilion at the ITS World Congress, Navtech Radar will be showcasing the safety and economic benefits of using its longer-range ClearWay radar systems for automated incident detection (AID). Characteristics such as the system’s very low false alarm rates – less than one per 24 hours – will be highlighted, as well as the system’s growing list of functionalities, which now include vehicle count and classification. Key features of the technology are that it enables road and tunnel operat

Ho Chi Minh City (HCM City), Vietnam is to spend around US$10 million annually in a four-year project to upgrade its bus transport system, according to the Department of Transport. Around 1,680 new buses will be purchased, including 350 units that are powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). Department of Transport deputy director, Duong Hong Thanh, said “CNG buses, which are cheaper and cleaner, would help improve the environment and save about 35-40 per cent of costs compared to diesel buses.” The first

During the snowstorm on 17 January, 2012, Washington State DOT (WSDOT) saw more than 800,000 people access its website – nearly twelve percent of Washington’s population. The DOT is taking steps to ensure it can handle that amount of traffic and higher, as well as the number of people who are accessing the website on a daily basis, which has increased from 78,000 unique visitors a day in 2011 to nearly 90,000 a day in 2012. Building the infrastructure that would be needed to handle infrequent weather spikes

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has recently implemented a video electronic link between the public transport customer service call centre and the transport operations control centre. Dedicated monitors have been mounted in the call centre, enabling accurate and direct tracking of bus movements and schedules. The centre handles around 5000 incoming calls 24 hours a day, comprising suggestions, complaints and reports relating to bus schedules, and the link has been tailored to cover the busies

The 19th ITS World Congress is the venue for presentations on intelligent transport systems for urban areas by the European Commission’s expert group, starting at 0900 on 24 October. The day will start with a session introducing the guidelines for the deployment of key ITS applications in urban areas expert group on which has developed specific guidance for the deployment of ITS in urban areas, and in particular for the provision and organisation of multimodal information, traffic management and smart ticke

China’s State Council has released a white paper that explores the possible business development model for electric vehicles in the country. After comparing the differences between electric and conventional gasoline vehicles, the white paper points out the market barriers faced by EVs in China: limited range when compared to gasoline, high cost, slow charging and insufficient charging stations The paper argues that China needs to develop an innovative business model to overcome these market barriers since t