News

Google has been awarded a US patent for a “landing strip” which will be used to transition a mixed-mode vehicle from human to autonomous control. The Intellectual Property Rights explain how the car would know when and where to take control and where it is located and the direction it needs to drive in. Google describes several methods for the technology and says that a range of aspects can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. The enabler

Magellan, a leading GPS brand, has been named an International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Award Honouree for its Wireless Back-up Camera. that attaches to the vehicle's rear license plate and transmits images directly to one of several 7" Magellan GPS models transforming the display into a rear view monitor. When the car is put into reverse, the Magellan navigator will automatically switch from navigation mode to rear view mode, enabling drivers to view what is behind their car. The back-up

North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDoT) has announced it is seeking projects to to receive its Mobility Fund grant which has an allocation of about US$45 million in fiscal 2012/2013 and $58 million in fiscal 2013/2014. All kinds of rail and bus transit projects are eligible to be submitted for consideration but the projects are required to have funds ready for construction within five years. Grants will be given to projects that are approved to be able to boost efficiency and mobility across the

The European Investment Bank, the European Union’s long-term lending institution, has agreed to provide US$157 over 19 years to enable Nottingham City Council to expand the city’s light rail system with two new tram lines to the south and south west. The new lines will have services every seven minutes between 7am and 7pm and include 28 stops along 17.5kms of track. The project also includes 22 new low-floor trams for the line to link park and ride sites next to the M1 at Clifton and Toton Lane with the cit

INVG, a transport company based in Ingolstadt, Germany, has opted for an integrated ITS and ticketing system from INIT. The company currently uses Mobile-Plan planning software supplied by INIT’s subsidiary Initplan, but INIT’s Mobile-ITCS intermodal transport control system will provide dispatchers with all the necessary information to manage traffic efficiently at a glance. The system shows the locations of all vehicles, and graphically summarises the information on a comprehensive map. Traffic disruption

Kathmandu metropolitan city is planning to operate a 24-hr metro bus system using double-decker buses that will carry more passengers and also provide night services, reports Ram Krishna Wagle from Nepal. An EOI for the operation of the metro bus has appointed a local company which plans to operate 10 buses initially. The company is funding the purchase of the metro bus from its own resources although the government has provided tax breaks for providing the service.

Spanish construction firm ACS has been awarded a US$1.52 billion contract to construct a new 27km eight-lane motorway in Edmonton, Canada. The contract also includes a concession to operate the road for a period of 30 years. Meanwhile, Spanish construction firm Ferrovial, working with local company SNC Lavalin, has been awarded the approximately US$1 billion contract for the 20km extension works of the Toronto 407 motorway towards the East. The contract includes the design, construction, financing and maint

City planners in China are conducting feasibility studies and initial planning to develop skytrain, an elevated transportation system, in order to ease deteriorating traffic congestion in the urban areas of major cities. The benefits of skytrain include shorter construction period, quiet operation and cheaper construction cost – about one tenth of the cost of metro systems. In addition, since the skytrain runs on elevated viaducts and stations are built above ground, there will be less disruption to the sur

Police in Catalonia, Spain, after a year-long investigation, have arrested ten people involved in a network to forge transport tickets, just as they were preparing to print a million tickets to be used in Barcelona's public transport system. The forged tickets were of a high quality and it is estimated that Barcelona's metro system alone lost at least US$1.6 million due to this scam. Autoridad del Transporte Metropolitano de Barcelona (ATM), the metropolitan transport authority for Barcelona, had already in

A decree published last week, aimed at reducing accidents on motorways, will make it mandatory to use rumble strips on new motorways from 1 July 2012. The plan includes installing rumble strips to combat drowsy driving. One-third of fatal motorway accidents in France are caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

The US state of California has announced a statewide US$120 million battery electric vehicle (BEV) charging station network to supply 10,000 retrofitted charging systems at areas such as individual offices and homes, along with at least 200 public charging stations. Under the scheme, announced by Governor Jerry Brown, all major California cities are to have the charging infrastructure to be BEV-ready by 2015 with the state having a charging infrastructure that can support one million zero-emission vehicles

Cross Country Automotive Services, a specialist in driver assistance programmes, and its telematics subsidiary ATX Group have merged operations under a new business name, Agero.

Thales has been awarded a contract to implement a ticketing system for the Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon, a new metro transit system in the city of Gurgaon, connected to Delhi metro.

The organising committee of the 19th ITS World Congress & Exhibition, being held from 22-26 October 2012 in Vienna, Austria, have issued a reminder that the call for papers is open and that the submission deadline is 13th January, 2012.