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US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx predicted there would be a repeat of this summer’s infrastructure funding debate in Congress next year despite the likelihood of US$10.9 billion bill, passed by the House, becoming law before the end of this month. Foxx said during an interview with MSNBC’s Ed Schultz on Tuesday evening that the House-passed legislation failed to address the long-term issues that have been plaguing federal transportation funding for years. “What’s going on in Capitol Hill right

In a recent study, a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder found no evidence that a California ban on using hand-held cellphones while driving decreased the number of traffic accidents in the state in the first six months following the ban. The findings, published in the journal Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, are surprising given prior research that suggests driving while using a cellphone is risky; past laboratory studies have shown that people who talk on a cellphone wh

Research just released by telecommunications company Telefónica suggests that consumers are ready for connected cars. According to the study, there is sufficient global demand for connected car services, with more than 70 per cent of drivers surveyed saying that they are interested in using, or are already using, connected car services. The survey found that around half of consumers now consider connected features, such as inbuilt connectivity and the ability to plug in a smartphone, a key part of their

Driver safety and compliance solutions specialist Lytx Europe has welcomed news that the UK transport secretary is considering a number of options to combat distracted driving. Patrick McLoughlin has suggested that the penalty for using a mobile phone while driving could be doubled from the current three points, while a government spokesman said "Using a mobile phone while driving is extremely dangerous which is why we are considering a number of options to deter drivers." Julie Townsend, deputy chief

Representatives of the national road administration directorate s of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Intentions in the field of intelligent transport systems (ITS) associated with national traffic management systems and development of the Via Baltica road corridor. The four countries have committed to creating possibilities for joint development programs and projects of mutual interest. They will exchange traffic, road weather, road work, e-tolling, fre

Transport for London (TfL) has awarded new traffic signals maintenance contracts, worth around US$542 million for up to eight years, which will see the capital’s 6,000 traffic signals upgraded and maintained to the latest, greenest standards. Awarded to Telent Technology Services for west and south-west London, Siemens for north and north-west London and Cubic Transportation Systems for south-east London, the new Traffic Control Management Services contracts will help expand the use of intelligent traf

Scott F. Belcher, president and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), has responded to the Wi-Fi Innovation Act introduced by US Representatives Bob Latta, Darrell Issa, Anna Eshoo and Doris Matsui. The Act would put pressure on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow unlicensed devices to operate in the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum set aside by the FCC for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication technology showcased by Preside

Q-Free has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of Open Roads Consulting for a cash consideration of approximately US$6.2 million. Further consideration is dependent on future financial performance. The transaction is expected to be closed within the end of the third quarter 2014. The acquisition represents a milestone for Q-Free and is a strategically good match with other advanced traffic management systems (ATMS) and road user charging (RUC) activities within the group. It will

Pending completion of its fiscal 2014 audit, Iteris has reported preliminary condensed consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2014, to provide investors with insight into the company’s performance. Total unaudited revenue for the year was in the range US$67.2 million to US$68 million, compared to audited revenue in 2013 of US$61.6 million. Net income was between US$0.5 million and US$1.5 million, compared to US2.3 million in 2013. Net income in fiscal 2014 and 2013 includes an

Bolivia is to invest US$450mn to expand its cable car system, improving connectivity between La Paz and El Alto cities, according to President Evo Morales. Cable cars have started gaining momentum in Bolivia, springing up in cities across the country. Most recently the cable car system connecting capital La Paz with neighbouring El Alto city kicked off initial operations, in project was carried out by Austrian firm Doppelmayr. When all three lines are completed, it is set to be the largest mass trans

Denso Corporation has begun testing advanced driving support technology on a public road in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The company is testing automated driving scenarios in a single lane and testing automatic lane changes and other driving manoeuvres. Denso’s goal is to develop technologies that reduce driver workload and assist in safe driving. Denso has previously tested this technology on its test course in Japan. Its goal with public road testing is to identify, analyse and solve real-life problems tha

Kapsch CarrierCom has strengthened its public transport portfolio with the acquisition of public transport solutions provider Prodata Mobility Systems, a division of Belgium-headquartered Prodata Technology Group. The acquisition enables Kapsch CarrierCom to extend its range into ITS in public transport. Prodata’s automated fare collection solutions will provide public transport customers with integrated and stand-alone point of sale solutions, ticket machines and online and mobile portals. In addition,

Building the A684 bypass in North Yorkshire can start after the UK Department for Transport agreed to fund over US$50 million towards the full scheme cost of US$58.5 million. The bypass will remove traffic from villages and improve journey times on a vital east-west tourist route to the Yorkshire Dales. The scheme consists of a new 4.8 kilometre single carriageway road from the A684 north of Bedale to the A684 east of Leeming Bar, which links into junction 51 of the A1(M). Transport Minister Baroness

Canadian video interface supplier Pleora Technologies has unveiled the world’s first embedded hardware solution for delivering real-time video over a standard IEEE 802.11 wireless link. With Pleora's iPORT NTx-W embedded video interface, designers can quickly and easily integrate high-speed wireless connectivity into imaging systems where video cabling creates complexity, cost, and usability challenges. The device streams uncompressed video with low, consistent latency at sustained throughputs of more t

US president Barack Obama has highlighted his Administration’s support for intelligent transportation systems as a job creator and high-tech solution for reducing vehicle crashes and traffic gridlock. Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) members and staff joined President Obama at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Virginia, where the President toured the research and testing facility and delivered remarks on the importance of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicl

Iteris has announced that it will require additional time to complete its audit for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2014, primarily due to the time necessary to complete the review of certain complex, multi-element contracts, but the company is continuing to work with its auditors to complete the fiscal 2014 audit but. The company may have a material weakness in its internal controls over financial reporting related to certain of these multi-element contracts, but the company has not yet completed its fin

The DRIVE C2X provides a comprehensive, Europe-wide assessment of cooperative systems through field operational tests, and is to present its results on 16 and 17 July in Berlin. The test results are the last step in the preparation for the roll-out of cooperative systems in Europe. During the three and a half years of the project, more than 750 drivers tested eight safety-related functions of cooperative functions all over Europe. The operational tests took place in seven test sites in Finland, France, G

Intelligent Transport Systems Australia is calling for nominations by 30 September 2014 for its expanded National ITS Awards program. Intelligent Transport Systems Australia has expanded its 2014 National ITS Awards to five categories to better reflect the growth, diversity and maturity experienced by the industry in recent years and is calling for nominations by 30 September 2014. ITS Australia chief executive officer Susan Harris said establishing three new award categories will enable judges to re

IEEE has released the findings of a survey that revealed expert opinions about the future of driverless cars, from challenges to mass adoption, essential autonomous technologies, features in the car of the future, and geographic adoption. More than 200 researchers, academicians, practitioners, university students, society members and government agencies in the field of autonomous vehicles, participated in the survey. When survey respondents were asked to assign a ranking to six possible roadblocks to th

To demonstrate the interoperability between the European eCall system and the Russian Era-Glonass system, Glonass Union, VTT, Gemalto and Fujitsu Ten recently participated in live simultaneous demonstrations in Europe and Russia. To help mitigate the consequences of serious road accidents, the European Commission (EC) has adopted a proposal for a regulation concerning a type-approval requirement for deployment of the eCall system. In Russia, a technical regulation on wheeled-vehicle safety with Era-Glona