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Leading traffic information software provider Gewi has announced that the popular TIC product now is available as "TIC as a data service". The company says this will allow its customers to be able to test their TPEG over HTTP enabled navigation devices.

In the context of a wider relationship between Safran and Finmeccanica, Morpho (Safran group) and Selex Elsag (Finmeccanica Group) have signed a “Partnership Framework Agreement” for development of commercial and industrial operations in the field of road enforcement and safety equipment which could lead to a joint venture.

According to the Arval, the car rental division of French banking group, BNP Paribas, the interest of Spanish companies in adding electric vehicles to their fleet has dropped 90 per cent in the past year, with just two per cent of companies expecting to opt for this type of vehicle before 2014. In 2010, 21 per cent said they would chose them. Hybrid cars also lost favour, with a 47 per cent drop in the number of companies intending to use them in their fleet from 30 per cent in 2010 to 16 per cent currently

ITS Australia president Dr Norm Pidgeon has described the forthcoming ITS 2011 Summit, being held from 20-22 September at the Gold Coast, as ITS Australia’s most ambitious project to date. Like the inaugural Summit in 2009, the ITS 2011 Summit will be a roll-up the sleeves working session with the theme Strategy into Action. It will bring together all ITS stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, manufacturers and users, including vehicle and component manufacturers, transport businesses and government bodies

Tests of a new drug testing kit are now being carried out by the police. A number of parallel trials are being carried out of the kits, which can detect a number of illegal drugs. The kits are manufactured in the UK and are already supplied to police forces in Australia and Italy, where they have been used successfully for some time. Should the UK trials prove successful the kits will be introduced across the country during early 2012.

The European Commission has published new statistics showing that EU road fatalities decreased by 11 per cent in 2010. However, country by country statistics show that the number of deaths still varies greatly across the EU. Most countries achieved double-digit reductions in the number of road deaths over the past year, including Luxembourg (33%), Malta (29%) Sweden (26%) and Slovakia (26%).

Point Grey, a specialist in advanced digital camera products, and AMD, the global semiconductor company, have jointly demonstrated uncompressed streaming HD video across USB 3.0 during AMD’s A-Series APU official launch event.

Google has released Google Maps 5.7 for Android and added Transit Navigation (Beta), which currently provides over 12 billion miles of GPS-guided driving and walking directions per year. According to the company GPS turn-by-turn (or in this case, stop-by-stop) navigation is now available for public transit directions in 400+ cities around the globe.

Azure Dynamics Corporation, a specialist in the development and production of hybrid electric and electric components and powertrain systems for commercial vehicles, has announced an agreement with Ford Motor Company whereby Azure will integrate its proprietary plug-in hybrid (PHEV) technology into the Ford F-Series Super Duty product line.

UK transport secretary Philip Hammond yesterday cut the ribbon at the Hindhead twin bore tunnel in Surrey, signifying the end of a US$605 million, 1.8 km-long bypass of Hindhead village on the A3 between London and Portsmouth. The new tunnels will be used by 30,000 vehicles/day.

The next wave of telematics systems in China will be based on smartphone connectivity, and will harness the power of 3G networks, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics, “China Domestic OEM Telematics Solutions - Chang'an In Call & Its Local Counterparts.”

TÜV Rheinland, a global specialist in independent testing, inspection, certification, and consulting services, has announced Suzanne Murtha’s appointment as business development manager for its ITS group. In her new role, Murtha will develop and manage TÜV Rheinland’s North American consulting, assessment, analysis, verification, validation, testing and certification of ITS components and systems.

Earlier this year, General Motors signed a definitive agreement with ABB Group to identify joint research and development projects that would reuse Chevrolet Volt battery systems, which will have up to 70 per cent of life remaining after their automotive use is exhausted. Recent research conducted by GM predicts that secondary use of 33 Volt batteries will have enough storage capacity to power up to 50 homes for about four hours during a power cut.

Agnik, a US-based data analytics company for distributed, mobile and embedded environments, has selected Kore Telematics to power its MineDrive usage-based automobile insurance application. This provides insurance carriers with detailed intelligence about driver and automobile performance, enabling more accurate adjustment of their offerings.

California saw a decline in overall traffic deaths for the fifth year in a row. According to federal government figures, total vehicle fatalities dropped 11.9 per cent, from 3,081 in 2009 to 2,715 in 2010. Since the latest high of 4,333 in 2005, the 2010 figures show a total decline of 37.3 per cent.

The authorities in Puerto Rico awarded a contract to a consortium for two toll roads under a 40 year deal. The joint venture partnership comprises Spanish firm Abertis and Goldman Sachs' GS Global Infrastructure Partners II. The deal concerns the 83km PR22 road and the 8km PR5 road. The PR22 link is a major route with up to 10 lanes at its widest point while the urban PR5 road runs from PR22 to the western suburbs of San Juan.

The International Institute for Information Design (IIID), in cooperation with FH St. Poelten University of Applied Sciences, Austria, has announced Traffic & Transport Information Design, a five semester MSc course starting in October and which is based on distance teaching with blocked modules at the FH St.Poelten, Austria. Taught by top experts from more than 10 countries, the English-language based MSc Traffic&Transport Information Design course is being operated under the auspices of UNESCO.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the US Department of Transportation and the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories (FEHRL) located in Brussels, Belgium have signed a six-year memorandum of cooperation. This agreement complements the role of the FHWA as an associate of FEHRL, which aims to increase cooperation and coordination in road research, development and deployment, taking into account the shared challenges faced by the FHWA and the members of FEHRL, and the authority pro

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has selected AeroVironment to manufacture, supply, install and operate a network of nine fast-charging stations for electric vehicles on Interstate 5 and US 2. Stations will be located every 40 to 60 miles along stretches of I-5 between the Canadian border and Everett and between Olympia and the Oregon border, as well as along US 2 between Everett and Leavenworth.

The Björn Steiger Stiftung, a German foundation originally set up to improve the response time emergency services need to help injury victims, has announced that the emergency telephones on federal, state and county roads will be abolished in all federal states in Germany except Baden-Württemberg. The foundation attributed the decision to cost reasons but also pointed out that the emergency telephones were becoming more and more superfluous due to mobile location technology.