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Florida has 20 of the top 100 communities in the US that offer limited evacuation routes for natural disasters, says StreetLight Data. The company analysed 30,000 towns with populations under 40,000 with the aim of better preparing communities for floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. The top 100 communities was ranked by ‘evacuation risk’, which was determined by how many of the location’s daily trips enter and exit the town and via what route(s), adjusted for the number of available exits and overall populat

TRL is calling for an update to UK and EU automotive legislation to allow police, insurers and road safety researchers access to event data recorder (EDR) information. EDR is the equivalent of a black box that records a range of data from safety systems fitted to the vehicle in the seconds before, during and after a collision. The data helps provide information on the actions taken before a crash – which TRL says will be vital in understanding what an autonomous vehicle or its safety driver were doing j

Strabag is to modernise 12km of railway between Oldřichov u Duchcova, part of the village of Jenikov, and the town of Bílina in the Czech Republic. The CZK1.91 billion (£66 million) contract includes the relocation of station platforms, upgrading communications and safety systems along with the associated equipment and establishing barrier-free access to modernised stops and stations. The work is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2021.

Local Motors is trialling a free autonomous shuttle called Olli at a business park of 1,600 employees in the city of Rancho Cordova, California. During the three-month trial at the White Rock Corporate Campus, data will be gathered via rider surveys to understand the public’s sentiment around autonomous shuttles and their potential for easing congestion. The project is funded by a $90,000 grant from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and a further $10,000 from the city Olli is available to camp

Engineering firm Parsons and its partners have launched a global smart cities challenge called Transforming Intersections aimed at reducing the time drivers spend at red lights. Chuck Harrington, chairman of Parsons, says: “Our goal is to give cities the opportunity to increase their mobility, reduce their carbon footprint through reduced idling of vehicles, and keep their city moving." Parsons says the winner will receive a one-year free trial of its Intelligent Intersection product, which allows ci

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has presented its road safety awards to two individuals and four programmes in the US. Candace Lightner, president of We Save Lives - a non-profit organisation which focuses on reducing drunk, drugged and distracted driving - won the James J. Howard Highway Safety Trailblazer Award. She is also the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Ford Driving Skills for Life (Ford DSFL) global programme manager Jim Graham received the Kathryn J.R. Swanson Publi

Siemens Mobility is working with its subsidiary Bytemark to provide a common payment solution for the Smart Columbus travel app in Ohio. Smart Columbus - a joint venture with the city and Columbus Partnership - is utilising government grants and private investment from mobility projects to improve the region's transportation system. Siemens says the system allows users to pay for public and private mobility services including bicycles and scooters. Michael Stevens, chief innovation officer for the

Conduent Transportation has won two contracts to upgrade the hardware and software for the management system on hundreds of buses in Southern California. Conduent is to provide its computer-aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location (CAD/AVL) solution to buses belonging to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and North County Transit District (NCTD), as well as key portions of Orange County Transportation Authority’s (OCTA) system. John Peracchio, Conduent’s interim CEO, says: “The newer syste

Optimus Ride is operating an autonomous vehicle (AV) service at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York and expects to transport more than 16,000 passengers per month. The 300-acre industrial park has more than 400 manufacturing businesses and 10,000 employees on site. Dr. Ryan Chin, Optimus co-founder, says the system will “provide access to and experience with autonomy for thousands of people, helping to increase acceptance and confidence of this new technology”. Optimus is operating six AVs between the NY

Q-Free has unveiled a product which it says could save agencies tens of thousands of dollars when they upgrade signalised intersections. The Intelight Device Manager allows transportation agencies to remotely schedule firmware updates in bulk without putting an intersection into flashing red mode, the company says. Traditionally, technicians travel to each intersection and perform the update by putting the intersection in flash, a potentially hazardous scenario for technicians and motorists. The n

Swiss software company Teralytics has raised $17.5 million to offer mobility insights to more countries. The company is building a platform to provide advanced mobility analytics powered by telecom network data. Using data science and proprietary machine learning algorithms, the solution is expected to provide actionable mobility insights to help cities improve journeys across all modes of transport and optimise the location of electric vehicle chargers. Investors included Robert Bosch Venture Capital,

All Traffic Solutions (ATS) has launched a flood detection and warning product which it says can be used by transit authorities, municipalities and law enforcement agencies. ATS CEO Andy Souders says: “The FloodAlert detection and notification system leverages the latest advancements in technology to keep the public informed 24/7 in the event of flooding, and provides a holistic view of environmental, road and facility conditions.” ATS says the cloud-based system uses its ultrasonic sensor, existing infr

Here technologies has partnered with Citi Logik to help cities in the UK manage their environments without relying on hardware infrastructure. Here is to integrate its real-time traffic and speed data with the mobility company’s CitiAnalytics tool, which helps cities better understand traffic jams, air quality and people movement. Dieter Lange, director sales, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia, says City Lojik’s analytics can help cities “improve urban planning, relieve congestion and curb pollution

Electrify America has joined forces with Stable Auto to deploy a robotic charging solution for self-driving electric vehicles (EVs) at a demonstration site in San Francisco. The partners are hoping to charge autonomous EVs without human intervention using a robotic solution attached to a 150kW DC fast charger. The site is expected to open in early 2020. Electrify America will evaluate the hardware, network, operations and billing of its charging systems to best suit autonomous charging fleets. It has pro

Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority and the city’s police say they will use traffic solutions to secure the movement of participants and visitors for the Dubai World Expo 2020. The announcement came following a meeting on a five-year plan aimed at improving road safety and public transport, where they also discussed improving traffic safety in school districts and raising awareness through programmes for the academic year 2019-2020. Both parties agreed that the seizure of trucks and vehicles parked in t

ViaVan and public transport company Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) have launched a last-mile service that connects people to railway stations in rural areas outside the German capital. ViaVan says each vehicle operating under the ‘BerlKönig BC’ service will be able to carry up to 18 passengers to U-Bahn railway stations, which are traditionally underserved by fixed-route services. Riders will be able to pre-book rides via the BerlKönig BC mobile app up to one month in advance, and the fleet includes whe

Tata Power is working with Tata Motors to install 300 fast-charging electric vehicle (EV) stations across five cities in India by 2020. Praveer Sinha, CEO Tata Power, says: “We are committed to making India EV ready in line with the government’s ambition of providing green technology solutions and Tata group’s vision of reducing India’s carbon footprint.” The partners inaugurated the first seven charging stations in the city of Pune and will install 45 more in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. These

Ford Smart Mobility (FSM) has acquired technology company Journey Holding to help cities deliver more accessible transportation systems. Journey Holding will integrate its software solutions with FSM's TransLoc, a provider of technology solutions for on-demand and fixed route systems for public and private transit operations. Brett Wheatley, vice president of FSM marketing and growth, says: “It also will be key to connecting customers with the other mobility solutions in our portfolio, such as Spin e

The government of Canada is investing CAN$2.5 million over five years to tackle drug-impaired driving in the province of Prince Edward Island. The move is part of a CAN$81 million package to support public and road safety activities. Funding will help train more police officers in standardised field sobriety testing and drug recognition expert evaluation. The money will also be used to purchase approved drug screening devices and develop standardised data collection and reporting practices to analyse

Flowbird Urban Intelligence has launched terminal-based digital technology to enable local authorities to levy variable surcharges on vehicles that exceed set levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). The digital system is loaded onto Flowbird’s solar-powered terminals and is expected to help authorities encourage people to switch to lower carbon vehicles and use public transport in congested areas. Flowbird says the system can generate a separate fee for higher polluting cars at the time of parking via data linke