Truvelo launches LaserCam 4 to combat driving offences
UK technology company Truvelo is launching a mobile speed enforcement camera to combat driving offences. Called LaserCam 4, the solution combines laser speedmetre 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 internal solid state memory.
Q-Free to integrate traffic signal module into PennDoT’s ATMS
Tolling specialist Q-Free will integrate a traffic signal module into the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDoT’s) advanced traffic management system (ATMS) Open TMS. Q-Free says the upgrade will allow the PennDoT to add 10,000 intersections to its system to help manage the traffic network in real time.
Under the agreement, the traffic module will allow Q-Free subsidiary Intelight to integrate its Maxview ATMS with PennDoT’s system.
IFC invests in PickMe to improve Sri Lanka’s transportation links
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing $2.5m in Sri Lanka-based ride-hailing company PickMe, whose taxi app allows users to request auto rickshaws and luxury cars.
Amena Arif, IFC country manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives, says the country has the potential for a digital start-up ecosystem but has been held back by a lack of global funding.
IFC says only 5% of start-ups get cash-for-equity seed funding to raise their first significant round of venture capital.
IFC’s venture cap
Hyperloop to launch commercial system in Ukraine
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has partnered with the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to create a commercial Hyperloop system. The project’s first phase will utilise a 10km track to create a legal framework to certify the system before extending to a broader network which will play a major role in connecting Europe and Asia, says Hyperloop.
Volodymyr Omelyan, minister of infrastructure, says the technology will help the country create a smart and sustainable transportation infrastructure.
Nauto launches solution to eliminate distracted driving
Transportation company Nauto has launched its Prevent solution to help eliminate distracted driving by alerting motorists when their eyes have strayed off the road for too long. The company hopes to reduce accidents and collisions - before the large-scale arrival of autonomous vehicles.
A report by TechCrunch says the device will send a voice notification if motorists are distracted for more than five seconds and are driving at 60mph. An alarm will follow if the user's attention has not returned to drivi
CTS enters partnership to improve Melbourne’s traffic flow
Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has entered an R&D agreement with the iMove Cooperative Research Centre to improve traffic flows in Melbourne, Australia. The $55m government-funded project will consider the interaction of all transport modes to identify blockages in the management of an integrated multi-modal system.
The two-year initiative - called the Implementation of a Multimodal Situational Awareness and Operations Regime Evaluation Platform – sees CTS collaborating with the University of Melbou
Fleet Complete’s mobile video improves safety
Fleet Complete launch sFleet Complete has launched a mobile video platform to help improve operational safety and accident management for fleet managers across different industries.
Called Fleet Complete Vision, the advanced visual analytics solution provides driver, freight and vehicle safety support. In addition, the product offers contextual video data to help reduce insurance and liability costs.
Using the device, fleet managers can create and maintain driver scorecards, detect and review events, sha
Telensa's Planet to replace 600 street lights in Hong Kong
Telensa’s Planet system will replace around 600 street lights in Hong Kong’s Yuen Long Town area, to help provide a low-cost platform for smart city applications.
The company was chosen by the highways department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG). Planet is an intelligent street lighting system that is said to pay for itself in reduced energy and maintenance costs as well as offering improved quality of service through automatic fault reporting. Engineering services group
Parkmobile launches app feature for parking availability
North America-based Parkmobile has introduced a new app feature that shows on-street parking availability making it easier for ParkmobilePro members to find a parking spot in over 100 cities across the United States.
The feature is intended to help drivers navigate to areas with more open parking and avoid areas where there is none. It also comes with real-time parking and reservation capabilities.
In addition, members will receive discounted transaction fees, free roadside assistance as well as offers
Applied Information to implement bus transit priority system in Atlanta
Applied Information is to provide traffic signal priority for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) buses in a bid to make bus transit faster than car journeys in the city.
Applied’s Glance Smart Cities Supervisory technology will be used at 23 intersections along Atlanta’s Campbellton Road Smart Corridor.
The initiative, which also involves system integrator Temple, will be implemented between the Oakland City MARTA station and I-285 – an interstate loop which encircles Atlanta – and
Q-Free picks up Norway border plate recognition deal
Tolling specialist Q-Free is to provide cameras, sensors and services for vehicle and number plate recognition at various points on Norway’s borders from 2019. The two-year agreement with the Directorate of Norwegian Customs will also serve the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Norwegian Police.
Q-Free estimates the contract will be worth 40-60m NOK (€4.2-6.3m).
Toyota puts $1bn into ride-hailing service Grab
Toyota Motor Corporation is investing $1 billion in Grab Holdings, the Singapore-based ride-hailing platform provider.
Grab, which has merged with Uber in south-east Asia, offers services which use a variety of transport modes, from bicycles and shuttle buses to cars and taxis.
The companies say Toyota’s investment means they will also “strengthen and expand their existing collaboration in the area of connected cars, to drive the adoption of new mobility solutions across south-east Asia”.
Road pricing is inevitable – because the ‘user pays’ principle is fair
We pay for roads through our taxes: the poor pay proportionately more, and effectively subsidise the rich. It would be fairer to accept the ‘user pays’ principle, says Dr John Walker. Road pricing is already used worldwide to combat congestion and pollution, to compensate for falling revenues from fuel duty (‘gas tax’), to provide an alternative (and fairer) means of charging motorists than the 80-year old fuel tax and to improve the efficiency of and expand transport infrastructure. However, it could and s
Keeping people on track is RATP’s raison d’etre
In Paris, RATP Group’s autonomous Metro Line 1 is carrying 750,000 people a day across the city. Ben Spencer is invited into the control room to take a look at how the system works
Paris is visited by millions of tourists each year, keen to see for themselves stunning attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Seine and all the rest. But while the best-known sites of the City of Light tend to be on the surface, there is a lot going on below those iconic grand boule
Fluor: here's how to fix US infrastructure
US president Donald Trump’s comments about the country’s ‘crumbling infrastructure’ led many in the ITS sector to spot an opportunity to help with other solutions. David Seaton of Fluor ponders the scale of what’s required and considers some projects which have boosted mobility
We can no longer wait for future generations to address this nation’s crumbling infrastructure. We need to act now. The problem is substantial, to say the least. The American Society of Civil Engineers predicts that failing to clo
Parsons to upgrade services in Orange County
Parsons will implement its tolling technology along a key toll road in California. It will work on the Orange County segment of the four-lane, 18-mile 91 Express Lanes to improve services along the corridor. The company was chosen by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to deliver technical and operational services, including specifications development for toll and ITS, tolling-related planning and construction activities.
EMVA names board of directors
The General Assembly of the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) in Dubrovnik has expanded its board of directors to nine members. Jochem Herrmann (from Adimec) has been re-elected president and will serve another three years.
Michel Ollivier (Tiama) has been made vice president and Dr. Jean Caron (Euresys) remains the association’s treasurer.
New members include Dr. Dirk Berndt, business unit manager at Fraunhofer IFF, and Arnaud Destruels, European product marketing manager for Image Sensing
ABB deploys 30 fast-charging stations in Zurich
Swiss power and automation company Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) has deployed 30 fast-charging stations to Zurich to support the city’s transition to sustainable mobility.
The Terra 54 stations will be implemented in central, publicly-accessible locations in the city and surrounding areas.
ABB says the solution is suitable for charging electric cars, buses and trucks quickly to add range of 100-300km.
Robin Chase interview: Heaven and hell
A shared vision - or even much of a conversation at all - about what a better mobility balance looks like has been lacking…until now. Andrew Stone speaks to Zipcar founder Robin Chase about fairness – and the importance of not demonising cars
Singapore plans changes to transit system
Singapore has the third-highest population density in the world and the numbers are continuing to grow. The government knows that transit is vital: David Crawford investigates the city state’s Smart Nation strategy.
Transport is the most important of the five domains identified as the pillars of Singapore's far-reaching Smart Nation strategy, launched in November 2014 by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong with the aim of reaching fulfilment by 2024. Roads account for 12% of the island republic's 719km2 land ar