Search

To support its growing video camera business worldwide, TRW Automotive Holdings has launched production of camera systems in the US and is investing in its electronics facility in Illinois. TRW's scalable video camera (S-Cam) family incorporates technology from Mobileye and can provide a range of safety functions including lane departure warning, forward collision warning, headlight control, traffic sign recognition and pedestrian detection. When integrated with vehicle chassis systems, the S-Cam can provid

This year's Annual Meeting and Exposition in Nashville, Tenn., features more public sector participation than ever before. The event will kick off on Sunday, April 21 with a State DOT Roundtable featuring 20 State DOT CEOs from across the country, as well as feature senior US Department of Transportation (DOT) officials including Under Secretary for Policy Polly Trottenberg, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland, Federal Motor Carrier Saf

Delegates to the ITS America Annual Meeting will have an opportunity of checking Cobalt, Econolite’s the next generation in Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC), which was announced this week. The company states that Cobalt is the first ATC designed to accommodate the mobile needs of today’s traffic management professionals, and features the largest touchscreen display available in a controller. Its intuitive user interface and operating systems make access to essential controller functions easier than

Case Systems, which develops and maintains innovative reliable wireless technologies for the transportation and parking industries, will use the ITS America Annual Meeting to highlight its roadside call box technology and parking systems.

Visitors to the ITS America Annual Meeting will have an opportunity of seeing a new wireless roadway detection system from Trafficware. Operating under a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) patent in an exclusive license agreement, the company’s engineers developed the Valence Pod, a wireless system that uses roadway sensors to detect the presence of vehicles. The device can be used individually for a smaller zone or grouped with other Pods to create a larger, smarter detection zone. The omni-direct

Wavetronix is using its 10th appearance at the ITS America Annual Meeting to bring attention to its application-based detection systems and will invite visitors to “tame” their traffic with Wavetronix. For the first time, the company is shifting its focus from individual products to comprehensive applications that use the accuracy of digital wave radar to give departments of transportation more control over their traffic. “The accuracy and reliability of our products have been proven at locations around the

McCain, manufacturer and supplier of intelligent transportation systems, traffic control equipment and parking guidance solutions, will use the ITS America Annual Meeting to debut the new and improved Transparity TMS (Traffic Management System) which has been completely redesigned on a modern platform to provide dependable monitoring and command of signalised intersections.

Minnesota DoT has built one of the most intensive Active Traffic Management (ATM) systems on the road today. Like many ITS deployments, the state has gained benefits but also faces many challenges, as Pete Goldin reports. Smart Lanes is the brand name of Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDoT) ATM system on I-35W in the Twin Cities Metro Area. The original system covered 16 miles of I-35W south of Minneapolis starting in 2009, and was extended by two miles in 2011. Additional ATM equipment was inst

Switzerland based ABB has launched the Terra SmartConnect (SC) fast chargers for electric vehicles (EV) in North America. Terra SC will be available with support for the CHAdeMO fast-charging standard, with SAE/combined charging system and will be made available in the Americas in second quarter of 2013. According to the company, the Terra SC can fully charge an electric car in thirty to 120 minutes and charge the battery of currently available EVs from 30 per cent to 80 per cent in about half an hour. The

The New South Wales government (NSW) in Australia has introduced six mobile applications for train users in Sydney to track arrival of trains in real-time using satellite information. State Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian unveiled the updated apps that will have the real-time capability, making use of markers on stations that will receive information from trains, and then pass it on to the apps. Funded by the state government, one of the apps gives voice-over notification to remind users to exit

In an effort to reduce congestion and improve passenger flow at railway stations in the Netherlands, Danish software company Blip Systems and Dutch railway consultants NPC have teamed up to monitor passenger movements using Bluetooth and wi-fi tracking. In an eight-week study at Groningen railway station, Blip Systems has installed 22 of its BlipTrack sensors which anonymously detect wi-fi and Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones and laptops. The sensors will monitor passengers and transmit the

The operation of the UK’s innovITS-ADVANCE facility, dedicated to the testing and demonstration of cooperative vehicle infrastructure systems, has been transferred to automotive design and development organisation MIRA. The transition is being made to provide the most sustainable future for this important ITS resource and assure its continuing success. In the five years since its inception, innovITS-ADVANCE has delivered a world class facility that is purpose-built for testing telematics systems. The comb

Splinteroperability is a word devised by Travis P. Dunn and Victor J. Michelet C. to encapsulate the lack of progress towards ETC harmonisation in the US and Mexico. Five thousand miles of tolled roads and bridges. Widespread implementation of electronic toll collection (ETC) systems. One dominant interoperable ETC service provider covering just over half the nation’s toll facilities. Numerous other ETC service providers offering alternative visions of interoperability. Years of customer requests for better

US traffic information provider AccuWeather is to integrate Inrix real-time traffic and incident information, travel times and traffic camera images into its StoryTeller traffic app. AccuWeather customers receive the same traffic information used by leading vehicle manufacturers, commercial fleets, departments of transportation and news organisations worldwide. The Inrix traffic intelligence platform analyses real-time data from over a hundred sources including traditional road sensors, official accident an

There’s a new face in the driving seat at the US Department of Transport’s ITS Joint Program Office. Fortunately, as Robin Meczes finds out, he’s no learner driver… Ask Kenneth Leonard why he wanted his new job as director of the ITS Joint Program Office, and his answer comes back without a second’s delay. “The potential to save lives, reduce injuries and help people enjoy a more efficient transportation system is the kind of challenge that makes me want to come to work each morning,” he says. “In my opinio

Intelligent intersection control systems have a growing role to play in making urban traffic more efficient. Robin Meczes reports. The idea of every traffic light turning green as you approach it has long been a dream for many an urban driver – and none more so than those driving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), which are slow and difficult to bring to a halt and then accelerate back to normal travel speed. But that dream has become a reality for some drivers in a small number of cities around Europe in the las

For a long time, the ITS industry agonised over how to make itself better known to the public. There were pragmatic reasons for this – greater awareness of what it is and does leads to greater lobbying power, an important consideration for a small industry pitched against the might of the road-building fraternity in the fight for budgets – but there was also an element, it must be said, of just wanting to be ‘loved’. But that desire runs up against several realities. The first is that even ‘experts’ strugg

Finnish consulting and engineering company Pöyry is to provide design services for the eight kilometre Western Metro extension in Espoo, the third largest city in Finland. It will be part of the metro system in the Helsinki capital region. The US$8.25 million contract, awarded by Länsimetro Oy, will bring the metro within the reach of 50,000 people in south-western parts of Espoo, and is expected to be complete by 2018. Pöyry has also provided track engineering, rock and geotechnical engineering, architect

The Rockefeller Foundation has announced a US$1.2 million, four-city project to support local efforts to build bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in Boston, Chicago, Nashville and Pittsburgh. In each city, the grant will support research, communications and community outreach efforts to engage and educate local stakeholders on the benefits of BRT. As part of its effort to transform cities, the Rockefeller Foundation's transportation work aims to encourage economic growth and improve quality of life by helping

The Highways Agency is to deliver a further twenty-two schemes in the UK’s north-west to boost the economy, reduce congestion and improve safety in the third, and final, stage of its pinch point programme. The schemes, representing an investment of US$47.7 million, will remove bottlenecks and keep traffic moving on England’s motorways and major A roads. Nationally, this stage of the programme comprises 58 schemes, worth US$151 million, that will be delivered by March 2015 and will bring an estimated US$2.1