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Mobike says it has suspended its bike-sharing service in the UK city of Manchester following an increase in bike losses from theft and vandalism. The company is in the process of refunding riders and is advising them to check their bank statements. According to Mobike, the service began operating in Manchester in July 2017, with citizens taking 250,000 trips across over 180,000 miles. It operates in other UK cities such as London, Newcastle, Oxford and Cambridge. Mobike also has operations in Paris, Berlin

US company Affectiva plans to develop a joint automotive assistant which detects driver distraction and drowsiness and voices recommendations such as navigating to a coffee shop. The solution is intended to align its dialogue to a motorist’s emotional state based on facial and verbal expressions. The integrated solution will combine the Affectiva Automotive AI solution with UK-based Nuance Communications’ Dragon Drive platform. Affectiva Automotive AI measures facial expressions and emotions such as anger

Conduent is extending its contactless card payment system to Line 3 of on Puebla’s Red Urbana de Transporte Articulado (RUTA) bus rapid transit system in Mexico. The upgrade is being carried out over the summer and will replace all free-standing ticket machines. Conduent’s system will allow riders to tap their phone or Puebla contactless card at validators. The solution will also replace inspector terminals, validators and access control gates. According to Conduent, all three lines will receive fleet

BYD will deliver seven 12 metre electric buses to public transport operator Egged in Jerusalem, Israel. The deal serves as an extension to a deployment of 17 vehicles in Haifa, a port city in the north of Israel in 2017. The order is part of a wider initiative, supported by Israel’s Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Environment, to introduce alternative transit technologies to the country’s public transportation fleets.

Antaira Technologies, an industrial device networking and communication solutions specialist, says its new unmanaged switch series is designed for industrial application subject to high vibration and shock. The LNP-0800G-M12-67-24 series features a PSE management system which helps provide protection from PoE system or PD overloads. According to Antaira, the IP67 waterproof switch uses bypass technology to help keep data communication flowing if there is a power failure even if the switch is offline. The

Canadian bike-sharing company PBSC Urban Solutions will deploy over 7,000 bikes across Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile. Both roll-outs are set to be completed by early 2019. The deployment consists of 4,000 Iconic models to Buenos Aires, along with 400 docking stations which use energy from solar panels for data transmission to lock and unlock bikes. In addition, 3,850 Fit bikes and 350 solar-powered stations will launch in Santiago. The project is part of a deal with Tembico, a company whic

Public transport operator Transdev is to launch a driverless shuttle for school children in Florida. The autonomous service will run this autumn at Babcock Neighbourhood School in the new town of Babcock Ranch, north-east of Fort Myers. The 12-person Easy Mile Ez10 Gen 11 shuttle will operate at 12mph and brake automatically when it detects obstacles or manoeuvre around them safely. A ‘safety attendant’ will remain on board. Transdev has confirmed it will test the shuttle with students and families on t

In the UK, 16 public and private sector fleet operators are to invest £40m in a bid to deploy 2,400 electric vans by 2020. The operators – which include Tesco - point to a recent study, in which the health damage caused by pollution from diesel vans has been put at £2.2bn per annum to the UK National Health Service and to society. The newly-formed consortium – called the Clean Van Commitment – is backed by the Department for Transport and led by charity Global Action Plan and energy and services group Engi

Keolis Shanghai will maintain and operate the new tramway in the Songjiang District of Shanghai, China. The first phase of the network is expected to transport 170,000 passengers per day from 25 December. The five-year project stems from an agreement with Songjiang Tramway. For the first portion of the network, 30 Citadis trams made by Alstom will operate across 30 stations. The entire 31km tramway is scheduled to be complete in mid-2019 and is expected to serve as a mobility solution for 1.8m inhabitants

There is a temptation to present ITS as part of an endless upward curve towards better, easier, safer, quicker, and so on. But it is important to acknowledge that there can be (sometimes literally) bumps in the road. When mobility schemes go wrong, it’s not pretty. Take bicycle-share company oBike, which recently stopped its operations in Melbourne, Australia. Having no docking stations massively increases convenience for users – you can leave the bikes anywhere - but opens up the whole shebang to the threa

The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) has installed Edeva’s traffic system speed bumps on the E65 road in the city of Ystad. Called Actibump, the solution is intended to improve safety and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists crossing the street from Ystad harbour. Actibump detects if the speed of an oncoming vehicle is above the limit and lowers a hatch a few centimetres into the road surface to remind the driver of the speed limit.

Swedish electric vehicle manufacturer NEVS is using technology from Phantom Auto to improve the safety of passengers in its electric autonomous vehicles (AVs). Phantom Auto’s teleoperation system allows a remote human operator to take control of the vehicle in situations which an AV cannot handle on its own - such as inclement weather, road work and other road obstructions. The remote operator sits in front of a series of screens, has a 360-degree view of the AV’s surroundings and can take control at any

Technology company Baron Weather says its solution can help US Department of Transportation (DoT) services monitor current and forecasted weather conditions. Called Baron Threat Net, the platform also features patented road weather and pavement conditions forecasts. The device comes with a network operations display, mobile app and custom location alerting. In addition, it is intended to integrate a state’s road weather sensor data into a single display. An unnamed US state DoT recently integrated Threat

Bartco UK has launched an app which gives users the ability to change variable message signs (VMS) remotely. Bartco Live will allow traffic managers to control VMS announcements via smartphone, tablet or laptop, offering flexibility and efficiency, the company says. App features include a searchable list of assets and their location on the map. Users are also provided with a list and search facility for files. Bartco Live, created by Bartco Traffic Equipment in Australia, is also available through

Ford’s ride-sharing shuttle service Chariot is expanding operations in London to help companies and campuses improve commuter journeys and reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Chariot’s minibus service started operating in the UK capital earlier this year to help connect commuters living and working in areas underserved by public transport. The first new shuttle service is part of an agreement sustainable transport group EasitNetwork. It will serve commuters at Stockley Park – a business park

Teledyne e2v says its CMOS sensor for barcode reading offers improved performance for handheld, mobile or fixed reads and automatic identification cameras. Called Snappy 2MP, the solution combines high definition resolution, a 2.8μm low-noise global shutter and features which are intended to provide fast and economic decoding. According to Teledyne e2v, the sensor allows scanning platforms to offer enhanced productivity and throughput in logistics, sorting and retail point of sale. Snappy 2MP’s feature

Connected Signals is providing drivers in Gainesville, Florida, with real-time predictive traffic information to let them know when traffic lights are going to change. The company says sharing the data with vehicles and drivers can improve fuel efficiency by 8-15% and reduce red-light crashes by 25%. Aggregated real-time signal information, fed through predictive algorithms, is sent to Gainesville drivers via the company’s Enlighten mobile app. The app will eventually be integrated with connected car dis

German tunnel sensor monitoring manufacturer DURAG has taken a 50% stake in the Austrian tunnel air and lighting monitoring company JES Elektrotechnik. JES, based in Hallein, Austria, manufactures and sells environmental monitoring solutions for transport infrastructure applications such as tunnels, underground car parks and road weather stations. JES also sells sensors from manufacturers such as DURAG. Its markets are mainly in German-speaking countries worldwide and it also carries out maintenance on beh

UK technology company Truvelo is launching a mobile speed enforcement camera to combat driving offences. Called LaserCam 4, the solution combines laser speedmeter capabilities with high-quality video and can be used by static safety camera partnership vehicles. LaserCam 4 records evidential video clips of speeding and other infractions onto an internal solid-state memory. Truvelo exhibited the solution at the Traffex Seeing is Believing conference in Leicestershire, UK, on 27-28 June. The event had an i

APT Skidata claims its new ticketless solution using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) will provide drivers with faster and easier access to parking. The Austrian company, a joint venture between Swarco and Skidata, says its platform is suited for operators offering an initial free parking period. The device can replace paper tickets or radio frequency identification cards and uses a vehicle number plate as the access medium or virtual ticket. It is intended to remove issues caused by lost or damag