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Half of transport companies say that ITS adoption is being held back by a “limited understanding of the range of emerging technologies available”, according to a new global survey. The sobering finding – which indicates that ITS providers and policy makers have more to do to explain some of the benefits – comes from the IRU’s ‘The future of road transport’ report. The other major barrier to adopting technology is cost, say 71% of respondents. The IRU says: “This suggests that pockets of the industry have

Kowa is showcasing its lens series for 12MP cameras with a 1.1" chip size and a pixel size of 3.45µm at Vision 2018 this week in Stuttgart, Germany. The new FC series is optimized to fit the micro lenses of the new Sony sensors IMX253 and IMX304, so that unwanted shading on the sensor is prevented. Kowa’s lenses are also wide-band coated which effectively decreases glare and reflection and produces a high transmission from the visible to the NIR wavelength.

Denso has acquired Ease Simulation, a US company which develops automotive diagnostics technology. Richard Shiozaki, senior vice president of Denso Products and Services Americas, says the deal is part of a long-term strategy to offer new value for mobility. Ease will now merge with Denso Products and Services America, an automotive components subsidiary based in California. Ease also offers automotive inspection software, automotive emissions equipment and automotive telematics systems.

Singapore technology company ST Engineering intends to develop ITS and autonomous vehicle (AV) capabilities in Israel following an agreement with the municipality of Ashdod. The scope of the agreement includes ITS for roads and a fleet management system for buses.

Ford has joined forces with technology company Baidu to test Level 4 self-driving vehicles in China over the next two years. Level 4, established by the SAE International (formerly the US Society of Automotive Engineers), will allow the vehicles to operate without intervention from a human driver. A report by CNBC says Ford’s self-driving vehicles are equipped with Baidu’s autonomous driving system Apollo. The cars are expected to be deployed in on-road tests by the end of 2018. Sherif Marakby, pr

Conduent Transportation will deliver 1,700 smartcard ticket validators to Dutch transport company RET in Spring 2019. The technology will be used by commuters on buses and trams in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Conduent says its VPE 430 validators, integrated with software from IT services provider Sigmax, will allow riders to pay via a Dutch OV Chipkaart public transport payment card as well as bank cards and smartphones with barcodes or near-field communication. In September, the company extended its c

Volkswagen (VW), Mobileye and Champion Motors are to deploy a self-driving taxi service in Israel over the next four years. Operating under the name ‘New Mobility in Israel,’ the service is being tested as part of a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) model which uses autonomous electric vehicles (EV). Mobileye, an Intel company, will equip VW’s EVs with a level-4 autonomous vehicle kit – a driverless solution which consists of hardware, driving policy, safety software and map data. Champion Motors, an Isr

Waymo has been granted a licence to test fully-driverless cars on public roads in California. It is the first company to be given the green light for such trials in the state – and it means there will be no test driver sitting in the driver’s seat. The permit includes day and night testing on city streets, rural roads and highways with speed limits of up to 65mph. Waymo insists: “Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit. We will gradual

A leading US public transportation agency has become the first in the country to embrace the Paris Climate Agreement, and will introduce an all-electric airport shuttle bus fleet. The voluntary Paris deal is aimed at curbing global temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius. As part of a commitment to achieving this, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says it will aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 35% by 2025 – and 80% by 2050. Its shuttle fleet will consist of 36 electric vehicl

ITS America is accepting paper and session proposals for its annual meeting in Washington, DC on 4-7 June 2019. Submissions based on this year’s theme - ‘Intelligent Mobility: Safer, Greener, Smarter’ - should relate to topics on intelligent mobility: moving people, data and freight. Authors of the accepted papers will present findings in a session organised by ITS America’s programme committee which will feature a moderator appointed by the event

Denso is to open a facility at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in June 2020 to develop and test automated driving technologies. The company says the site will feature a building and proving ground for mobility systems research and development. It will also develop automated driving technology researched at its global R&D facility in Tokyo which opened in April. This office was developed to promote collaboration with Denso’s development partners which include automakers, universities, research institutes

Finnish technology company Teleste will install a ‘situational awareness’ (S-aware) platform on Helsinki’s metro system. Part of a €2 million contract to improve passenger safety, the solution will be rolled out gradually next year and is expected to be complete in 2020. S-Aware collects real-time information from various subsystems and data sources to display a real-time view of the operational infrastructure. Teleste says the system will allow Helsinki City Transport to respond better to secur

Travellers in the Italian city of Bologna are being incentivised to give up their cars with the offer of beer, ice cream or cinema tickets. An anti-pollution initiative rewards people who cycle, walk or take public transport. A hundred local businesses have signed up to the programme – called Bella Mossa (or ‘Good Job’) - to give away discount vouchers, the BBC reports. Funded by the European Union and Bologna’s local government, Bella Mossa runs for six months of the year. Users download an app, log thei

French car manufacturer Groupe PSA says its ‘free-floating’ car-share service provides members in Washington, DC with access to 600 vehicles. The Free2Move service is available to drivers for a $10 membership fee and does not include late fees, per trip fees or insurance charges, the company adds. Members can use the Free2Move app to locate, book and open/lock the vehicles. This pilot coincides with Maven’s announcement to expand its peer-to-peer car-share service in Washington, DC – and other US

The city of Surabaya, Indonesia, is giving free bus rides to commuters who provide used plastic bottles as part of a strategy encourage recycling. This initiative is expected to serve the city’s ambition to eliminate plastic waste by 2020. Citizens can travel on red city buses by dropping off plastic bottles at terminals or can use the bottles to pay for their fares. Reuters says a two-hour bus ticket costs ten plastic cups or up to five plastic bottles, depending on their size. Labels and bo

Nearly all UK drivers with keyless technology are unaware of the major digital threats posed by hackers, according to research conducted by MoneySuperMarket. The study reveals that 99% of drivers are unaware of security flaws such as phone phishing, where hackers send emails to drivers which contain malicious links that connect to a car’s Wi-Fi features and take control. MoneySuperMarket says 16% of drivers - or someone they know - have experienced car hacking. Also, eight out of 10 drivers do not k

Draft rules have been adopted by European policy makers which would bring the idea of widescale ‘user pays’ road pricing one step closer. European Union member states which currently use time-based road user charges will need to switch to distance-based ones for trucks and buses (over 2.4 tonnes) from 2023, and vans and minibuses from 2027, if the rules are made into law. The idea is that vehicles would then be charged according to their actual road use and the pollution they generate. The ‘user

General Motors’ subsidiary Maven is expanding its peer-to-peer car-share option to more US cities. The service – which sees owners renting out their vehicles - is currently available in four urban areas: Ann Arbor, Chicago, Denver and Detroit. But GM says it will now be rolled out in Baltimore, Boston, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC by the end of the year. Owners can rent out their GM car, so long as it is registered in 2015 or later, with Maven taking 40% of each rental. Despi

Electricity and gas company SP Group says it will build a network of 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers in Singapore by 2020 to meet public demand. Wong Kim Yin, SP group chief executive officer, says the initiative will enable greater adoption of EVs, help its customers go green and save energy and cost. The deployment will include 250 high-powered direct current (DC) chargers which are expected to offer power ratings up to 350kW to support EV models with bigger battery capacities and longer driv

Aurrigo has made 15 of its self-driving pods available to residents in the UK town of Milton Keynes as part of the Autodrive project. The three-year initiative, funded by Innovate UK, is part of an agreement with Milton Keynes Council to trial the pods as a first/last mile solution for citizens and visitors. The company says the Autodrive pods can travel up to 15mph for 60 miles on one charge – operating in the city centre from the central railway station. Brian Matthews, head of transport innov