TTTech joins SafeTrans transportation safety group
To strengthen its close cooperation with partners and experts in the transportation field, Austrian network solutions provider TTTech has become a member of the competence group Safety in Transportation Systems (SafeTrans). SafeTrans is a group of industry experts and decision makers from railway, aerospace, space, automotive, off-highway and industrial segments and academia. The goal of the group is to combine know-how regarding research and development in the sector of embedded systems for transportation
New technologies to aid drivers in poor visibility
Abu Dhabi traffic police are to introduce an electronic weather system to alert motorists of fog, rain, and visibility problems ahead. Dense fog is a major problem for motorists across the country in the winter months. Heavy dust storms in summer also affect visibility. The system uses the latest technology and combines the tracking systems, patrols distribution information, traffic accident analysis system, and smart traffic awareness system of the Smart Traffic System Centre at the Abu Dhabi Police and T
BLIP Systems and G4 Apps team up on traffic monitoring
Danish wireless technology provider BLIP Systems has teamed up with US company G4 Apps in a partnership that combines the wireless solutions of BLIP Systems with G4’s driver assistance and traffic management software to provide the BlipTrac traffic monitoring solution for the US. With proven technologies like Bluetooth and wi-fi tracking, the cost of collecting detailed data for travel time, origin and destination, traffic flow, queuing and more has decreased significantly compared to traditional measuremen
Real-time bus arrivals delivered via scan code
Quick Response codes, or QR codes, are being introduced on a trial basis at some local bus stops in Shanghai to allow passengers to check the whereabouts of buses and the expected arrival time of the next bus. Passengers can obtain real-time information on buses by scanning the QR code using their smartphones, allowing them to adjust commuting plans. The service was first launched in Shanghai during late 2012. Almost 90 bus routes serving Pudong New Area can be checked using a smartphone application. People
Europe’s Toyotas to get TomTom HD Traffic
TomTom took advantage of the Geneva motor show to announce that it is to collaborate with its partner Harman to integrate TomTom HD Traffic into the next generation Touch&Go multimedia platform. Toyota Motor Europe (Toyota) will offer TomTom HD Traffic as standard in all vehicles with Toyota's next generation Touch&Go navigation and infotainment systems. TomTom HD Traffic will be integrated in Toyota Motor Europe's next Touch&Go platform from January 2014 and will be available in most European countries. Ac
Schneider to implement free-flow tolling solution in Brazil
Schneider Electric is to implement what is said to be one of Brazil’s first three Multi-Lane Free-Flow (MLFF) systems for highway concession company Renovias, enabling the concessionaire to carry out electronic toll collection without the need for toll collectors or requiring vehicles to stop. Schneider says this will improve drivers’ experience when travelling through the toll stations, while being able to travel at a constant speed will reduce waiting times, traffic jams and emissions. The project inclu
New freight route mapping service – free workshop
G-STEP, a University of Leicester Project part funded by the ERDF, is holding a free, interactive breakfast workshop on Thursday 7 March, to introduce their new freight route mapping service for mobile devices. The service, which has been developed in collaboration with Leicester City Council and the Road Haulage Association, comes in the form of an app, which can be loaded onto mobile devices for use remotely, and identifies approved routes for large vehicles, allowing drivers to avoid roads that are unsui
‘Explosion of interest in smart cities’ says report
According to a new tracker report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, the past twelve months have seen an explosion of interest in the smart city concept. Cities around the world have announced new smart city strategies and innovative projects, and many existing programs have been rebranded as smart city initiatives. More than fifty per cent of smart city projects are focused on innovations in transportation and urban mobility. The tracker identifies and details 130 smart city proje
Roadflow keeps Bristol’s traffic moving
Following the successful deployment of two Roadflow mobile bus lane enforcement systems, Bristol City Council in the UK has awarded technology specialist SEA (a Cohort plc company) a new Roadflow contract to install up to ten re-deployable Flexi bus lane enforcement systems in the city over the next three years. According to SEA, local bus operators, whose timetables are adversely affected by traffic congestion on city centre bus routes, have welcomed the use of Roadflow’s cutting edge technology, as it has
McCain appoints VP of engineering
Intelligent transportation systems supplier McCain has appointed Reza Roozitalab to vice president of engineering. A licenced engineer, Roozitalab has worked for McCain for more than eighteen years, leading the engineering and applications teams in Vista, California and Tijuana, Mexico, making his promotion a natural and seamless transition. In his new role, Roozitalab will continue to provide leadership and guidance to the company’s engineering teams, in addition to overseeing the intelligent transportat
Polish enforcement wins for Jenoptik
Jenoptik’s traffic solutions division is to supply more than 100 enforcement systems for new traffic monitoring programs in Poland. The company’s partner in the country, Lifor, has received orders for speed and red light enforcement systems from both the central Polish transport agency GITD and Warsaw police. Jenoptik will provide GITD with around 100 MultaRadar SD580 fixed speed enforcement systems, to be integrated with a new national traffic monitoring network. The MultaRadar SD580 uses the latest radar
Lisbon smart city program
The Portuguese government’s Ministry of Economy and Employment has partnered with the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) in a project that covers a wide range of initiatives in the field of sustainable technology and innovation. The city of Lisbon in Portugal has been selected as the target city to implement a smart community program, with the aim of generating integrated systems for mobility management. Building on existing technologies and systems through the te
Dubai increases enforcement cameras
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is to install 100 new radar speed-camera stations, twenty-four of which will be activated by Dubai Police in May. The new cameras include systems installed at traffic signals to catch drivers who speed up to catch the green light or jump a red light. In 2011, more than 1.5 million speeding offences were recorded by radar cameras, the Dubai Statistics Centre reported. That figure represented a leap of about 115,000 on the previous year, when 1.4 million speeding
Delft road safety course for low and middle-income countries
Following the success of the first Delft Road Safety Course for low and middle-income countries, the 2013 course is to be held in Delft in the Netherlands from 15 to 29 September 2013. The course is a joint initiative of Delft University of Technology, the Post Graduate Education (PAO) and the Road Safety for All Foundation and focuses on educating professionals in the field of road safety in low and middle-income countries. The SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research joins this initiative in 2013. Profes
StarTraq Dome software for North Yorkshire Police
UK-based provider of traffic enforcement software StarTraq is to supply North Yorkshire Police (NYP) with its safety camera back office solution Dome (Dynamic Offence Management and Enforcement) to administer the increased number of traffic violations in the region more efficiently. According to StarTraq, the robust and scalable Dome software will automate several processes and thereby reduce the chance of human error to a minimum. In addition, the significant decrease in manual and administrative activiti
Dubai and Kurdistan opt for Vitronic solutions
Enforcement systems provider Vitronic has won two significant fixed and mobile enforcement contracts in Dubai and Iraqi Kurdistan. Dubai Police has recently awarded the company a further contract for fixed traffic enforcement systems, including PoliScan speed enforcement, combined red light and speed enforcement systems, and violation processing software. The stationary PoliScan speed systems monitor all vehicles in the surveillance zone equally, regardless of their position on the road. The systems in
Imtech faces €100m write-down after ‘possible irregularities’ in Poland
Dutch technical services provider Royal Imtech has announced the write-off of at least €100m in Poland after the discovery of “possible irregularities” in four of its projects there. The discovery relates to three projects for Adventure World Warsaw and one project involving energy-generating bio-power stations in Warsaw with a combined value of €757m. It is understood that advance payments for the four projects did not comply with the agreements made between Imtech and its customer in terms of the availa
Spectrum sharing plan triggers concerns in US
A group of leading industry professionals has written to the US National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) to ask for a rethink, following the announcement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the 5.9GHz band is to be opened up for spectrum sharing. The group, led by ITS America president and CEO Scott Belcher, includes senior academics, automotive manufacturers, ITS system suppliers and a number of US state departments of transportation such as those of Michigan, Texas
South America turns on to Q-Free toll tag technology
Norwegian toll technology provider Q-Free has secured two new contracts worth a combined US$7.5m to supply toll tags to toll concessionaires in Chile and Brazil.Vespucio Norte Express in Chile has placed a US$3.4m order for the firm’s OBU610 toll tags, with delivery to start this May. Q-Free is also to supply tags to the value of US$4.1m to Centro Gestao Meios de Pagto (CGMP) in Brazil. One of the first urban concessionaires in Santiago, Vespucio Norte Express is one of the most modern road connections worl
HeERO - harmonising e-Call across Europe
The second stage of the EC’s HeERO project, which aims to address some of the issues surrounding the eCall system, has just got underway. Jason Barnes reports. As the European Commission (EC)’s Harmonised eCall European Pilot (HeERO) project progresses into its second stage, ‘HeERO 2’, significant progress has already been made in addressing the technological and institutional issues relating to the pan-European deployment of an eCall system based around the new ‘112’ universal emergency telephone number.