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Panasonic North America has entered into a $50 million partnership with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDoT) to develop an advanced transportation data network. Panasonic says the network will improve safety and mobility on the road by sharing data between vehicles, infrastructure, roadways and traffic operators in real-time. The network is expected to provide the UDoT traffic operations centre with insights into crashes, severe weather or stalled vehicles. Personnel working at the centre wi

Rekor Systems is to launch a camera recognition solution which it says is designed to read the vehicle make, model, number plate, colour and body type. The Rekor Edge solution comes with an accuracy rate exceeding 99% and is suitable for parking and law enforcement, the company adds. Rod Hillman, chief operating officer of Rekor, says: “With Rekor Edge, we’re democratising vehicle recognition solutions by bringing a cost-efficient and user-friendly solution to potential markets.” According to Rektor, th

Kapsch TrafficCom is to oversee the infrastructure integration of the Smart Columbus Connected Vehicle Environment (CVE) in the US city of Ohio. The CVE is expected to improve safety and mobility for vehicle operators and pedestrian safety in school zones through connected vehicle infrastructure. It is part of the Smart Columbus programme, an initiative which shares lessons learned and best practices from integrating ITS in a bid to increase transportation mobility and safety. Kapsch will deploy

Keolis is to operate and maintain the French Riviera Urban Community’s public transport network ‘Zest’, in a deal expected to generate a total revenue of €60 million. Keolis is seeking to improve the transport network across 15 cities and villages of the community located along the Mediterranean coastline in southeast France. The company will also roll out digital services such as Wi-Fi in all buses. From 8 July, the company’s subsidiary Keolis Menton Riviera will start running regular and extracurri

PayTollo is launching its mobile payment platform for toll roads and bridges in the US states of California, Texas, Florida, Colorado and Washington. The company says the platform reduces costs and the time needed for toll authorities to collect funds by removing the need for paper invoices. According to PayTollo, the solution’s GPS toll recognition technology algorithm and user interface can notify, verify and charge a driver for toll crossings. Alternatively, drivers can also use the tolling solution

Cohda Wireless has partnered with India-based Sasken Technologies to accelerate the adoption of vehicle to everything (V2X) in connected vehicles utilising cellular or dedicated short range communication (DSRC). Cohda will combine its wireless DSRC/C-V2X stack and applications with Sasken’s telematics control unit with the stated aim of making road transport safer and smarter. Calvin Nichols, vice president at Sasken, says the partners are seeking to create a “telematics reference design” that will bene

Iteris is to acquire Albeck Gerken, a traffic operations engineering company in Florida, for a total of $10.7 million. Iteris will use Albeck’s traffic management facility to develop its Intersection as a Service offering, which helps users monitor signalised operations to improve safety. Aleck’s facility includes a traffic management centre, traffic operations lab and training centre, from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Aside from Tampa, Albeck has a second office in Orlando as well as other offic

The Government of Japan is to install 5G wireless communications base stations on traffic signals nationwide by 2025. A report by The Japan News says the project is expected to reduce costs for telecommunications service providers. As part of the project, traffic signals will be equipped with devices to measure the amount of traffic. The information sent from the stations to the vehicles is expected to support autonomous driving. Japan is not the only company looking to harness the potential of 5G. In F

Japanese manufacturer Kyocera has joined forces with BYD (Build Your Dreams) to develop an integrated renewable supply-demand energy system for electric vehicles (EVs). Kyocera will combine its solar power generating systems with BYD’s electric buses in a bid to reduce power losses and maintain a stable supply-demand energy balance. For the project, Kyocera is to develop the energy and charge management system to control the supply-demand balance between energy production and consumption by using ag

Transport companies are under concerted attack from hackers, according to security specialist Irdeto – and most don’t know how to respond. New research from the group says that 77% of organisations in transport and automotive have experienced an Internet of Things (IoT)-focused cyberattack in the past year – but only 6% “have what they need to combat cyberattacks”. The survey of 225 companies in China, Germany, Japan, UK and US found that the incursions had an impact on 91% of those which experience

In a bid to highlight the ongoing problem of pollution from vehicles, London is to stage its biggest car-free day yet on 22 September. The Sunday date has been timed to coincide with World Car Free Day, which encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day. This type of activity is increasingly popular in cities worldwide – with Bogota, Colombia, and Jakarta, Indonesia, among the early adopters – as authorities wake up to the health impacts. More than half of air pollution in the UK capital is ca

Pack Health has partnered with Uber Health to offer free transportation for patients with chronic conditions travelling to medical appointments in the US state of Alabama. Mazi Rasulnia, CEO of Pack Health, says: “For members who lack reliable means of transportation, or whose health prevents them from driving themselves to key follow-up appointments, offering a free ride through Uber Health is a simple and intuitive way to close care gaps." Pack Health, a health coaching platform, says the partnership w

Antaira Technologies has launched its ARS-7231-AC series, an industrial dual radio wireless unit with router capabilities, which it says can be used in ITS and traffic applications. The solution, embedded with the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9892 chipset, is expected to offer a wide network coverage with a low-voltage input of 9V and support. According to Antaira, the device can be used as an access point, transparent bridge or repeater. These units allow users to position the wireless antennas in a better sign

Itron has chosen Instrumentation Technologies (I-Tech) and Noesis.Network as winners of its inaugural smart city challenge. The companies won the awards for designing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for London and Glasgow, after developing solutions using Itron’s developer tools and IoT networks in both UK cities. In London, I-Tech designed a two-step solution to improve safety around the River Thames by allowing the city to monitor lifebelts and pinpoint the locations of a person in need of rescue su

The legal framework for what the German authorities call an ‘infrastructure use charge’ has been in place since 2015, and requires passenger vehicles using the country’s highways to pay a vignette of no more than €130 per year. The legal sticking point is that, while owners of vehicles registered in Germany qualify for relief from motor vehicle tax “to an amount that is at least equivalent to the amount of the charge that they will have had to pay”, foreign drivers do not enjoy such a concession. In

Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has increased 123% in London since the introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), says Carwow. Using data from its website, the car-buying platform found that searches for EVs also increased 56% in the rest of the UK Enquiries for alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) increased 77% in the UK capital and 44% in the rest of the country. Carwow says there has been a 56% year on year increase in searches for hybrid vehicles since May 2018, with a further 92% incre

Scooter-share firm Bird is to acquire Scoot, a San Francisco-based electric vehicle (EV) company. Scoot began deploying electric scooters in San Francisco in 2012 and has expanded in Santiago, Chile and Barcelona. Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird says the partnership will work toward replacing “car trips with micro mobility options for all”. Scoot will continue to operate under the same name but as a subsidiary of Bird.

Terrorists who have hijacked vans and trucks to drive into crowds – causing death and injury to pedestrians – could use autonomous vehicles (AVs) to achieve a similar result with no risk to themselves. That was the warning from Mike Gillespie, MD of security firm Advent IM. Speaking this week at the IFSEC International 2019 security conference in London, he said: “Imagine that you don’t have to get in the vehicle, you don’t have to be in the same city – or even the same country.” They would still be a

ParkMobile has joined forces with BMW subsidiary Reach Now to build integrated smart city solutions aimed at improving parking, transit and multimodal transportation. Users could pay for parking in a transit lot via the ParkMobile app and then use Reach Now to buy a ticket to ride a train, bus or ferry. Nat Parker, CEO of Reach Now, says the partners will create “smarter mobility solutions that help drive more intelligence for cities and help consumers get from point A to B”. The partnership betw

TomTom Telematics has launched its OEM.connect programme to allow vehicle manufacturers to connect with its telematics service platform. The programme will allow vehicle manufacturers to use TomTom’s fleet management solutions Webfleet and Nextfleet using vehicles fitted with connectivity systems. The company says the owners of OEM.connect equipped vehicles can then access TomTom Telematics’ applications to help boost the safety of fleet operations. Fleet data comprising from cars, light commerci