Smartphone fleet management
WebFleet Mobile, a smartphone app designed to provide managers on the move with essential information about their vehicle fleet, has been launched by TomTom and is now available on iOS and Android platforms. The app includes a detailed map which provides a view of the current traffic situation using TomTom HD Traffic. It allows managers to quickly pinpoint the location of their fleet, obtaining information on each vehicle's destination and estimated time of arrival, as well as trip data such as mileage and
Easy and safe automatic cone placing
Tasks that should always be undertaken using the protection of a truck or trailer-mounted attenuator, but frequently aren't. That's why Dutch company Trafiq attracted so much international attention last year when it developed and launched the Mobile Automatic Roadblock System (MARS). Not only does the system provide complete safety for highway workers, it automates the entire process. And on top of that, because of the speed at which it deploys and collects cones, MARS provides substantial cost savings com
Customised RFID
German companies KSW Microtec and Melzer have announced a collaborative initiative to produce a multi-layer UHF label for customised applications in access control and asset tracking. Drawing on the flexible engineering of KSW's windshield inlays and powered by Melzer's new SL-600 processing machine for converting selfadhesive label stock and dry inlays to fully functional RFID tags, the partners claim the labels offer the best and consistent read range for all types of applications.
Customised RFID
German companies KSW Microtec and Melzer have announced a collaborative initiative to produce a multi-layer UHF label for customised applications in access control and asset tracking. Drawing on the flexible engineering of KSW's windshield inlays and powered by Melzer's new SL-600 processing machine for converting selfadhesive label stock and dry inlays to fully functional RFID tags, the partners claim the labels offer the best and consistent read range for all types of applications.
Dead reckoning GPS receivers
Swiss positioning and wireless chip and module supplier u-blox has announced immediate availability of two new products equipped with the company's automotive dead reckoning (ADR) technology. Based on u-blox' tightly coupled Kalman Filter algorithm, the NEO-6V GPS module (pictured) and UBXG6010- SA-DR single chip deliver drop-in, self-calibrating GPS dead reckoning performance for high precision vehicle navigation systems.
Do we need a new approach to ITS and traffic management?
In an article which has implications for the European Electronic Toll Service, ASECAP's Kallistratos Dionelis asks whether the approach we currently take to major ITS system implementations is always the best or healthiest. I was asked recently to write a paper on the technology-oriented future of transport. To paraphrase, I started with: "The goal of European policy-makers is to establish a transport system which meets society's economic, social and environmental needs, satisfying in parallel a rising dema
New version of Esri CityEngine
Esri CityEngine 2011, the latest version of Esri's software for creating high-quality 3D content, is now available.
Average speed enforcement, a huge impact on reducing speed
A guaranteed way to get drivers to slow down and comply with work zone speed limits is to use average speed cameras. Deployed in the UK for over a decade now, they have had a huge impact, not least in achieving around 99 per cent compliance with speed limits. It's not difficult to understand: when someone knows that if they speed through a work zone it is absolutely guaranteed that they will be caught, fined and have points on their licence, only a total fool would. In the UK, SPECS average speed cameras we
Skymeter wins Intertraffic Innovation Award
Canada-based Skymeter Corporation has won the overall 2010 Intertraffic Innovation Award. The company succeeded with its smart road-use device which it has designed to handle a wide range of automotive mobility-related payment needs, including road user charging, parking fees, insurance and carbon metering, as well as reward schemes to encourage differential driving times, carpooling or teleworking.
PIPS handheld
PIPS Technology has developed an integrated handheld solution using its widely accepted PAGIS graphical user interface to effectively synchronise licence plate recognition (LPR) data and hotlists to and from its Back Office System Software (BOSS) platform. The company says the handheld interface offers seamless integration for existing BOSS users in a lightweight, portable and rechargeable product that can be used in on or off street parking, semi-covert, crime scene mapping, auto theft, federal security an
AVT expands in A-P region
Allied Vision Technologies has founded Allied Vision Technologies Asia, a 100 per cent owned subsidiary that will be in charge of expanding AVTs business in the Asia-Pacific region.
FedEx introduces all-electric trucks
FedEx Corporation has announced the expansion of its alternative-energy vehicle fleet with the first all-electric FedEx parcel delivery trucks in the United States.
Interoperable electronic payment systems begin testing
OmniAir's Tim McGuckin writes about progress with the Electronic Payment Services National Interoperability Specification, which aims to provide the US with payment capabilities at lane level using any ETC component protocol. The OmniAir Consortium was founded to advance US national deployment of open, effective and interoperable transportation technology systems. Through its member-defined programmes, companies and individuals join to work for open standards, interoperability, third-party certification and
Award for Head Medium Display
Johnson Controls has received the 2010 Supplier Award in the category Innovation from Philippe Varin, chairman of the managing board of PSA Peugeot Citroën, in Paris, for its new Head Medium Display.
Innovative traffic information system
From the roadside James Foster compiles some eye-catching news, deployments and product picks from the work zone
Managing congestion, better information changes perceptions
Kapsch's Dietrich Leihs talks about the true fundamentals of urban pricing. In some Italian and German towns and cities, the solution to congestion is an outright ban on certain types of vehicles. As far as Dietrich Leihs is concerned, any attempt to sweeten the pill that is congestion charging is only ever going to be a partial success at best.
China joins the world's most exclusive ITS technology club
China has joined the only two countries in the world – Germany and Japan - to have developed maglev (magnetic levitation) high-speed rail technology.
German municipalities prepare for electric cars
Verband kommunaler Unternehmen (VKU), the association of municipal companies in Germany, has announced that from 2012 more than 33 municipalities will set up a dense network of charging stations for electric cars.
Machine withstands oxyacetylene attack
This Metric Aura pay and display parking machine, located in a Stratford-on-Avon car park in the UK, has resisted an oxyacetylene attack.
School bus stop arm violation enforcement
The CrossingGuard school bus stop arm violation enforcement system, the latest innovation from American Traffic Solutions (ATS), consists of high resolution cameras mounted to the front and rear driver's side of a school bus. When the stop arm is extended, the system automatically detects if a vehicle passes the stopped school bus within the enforced zone. To allow the bus driver to stay focused on the road and the children on the bus, the CrossingGuard system automatically activates. High quality violation