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Panasonic North America has entered into a $50 million partnership with the Utah Department of Transportation (UDoT) to develop an advanced transportation data network. Panasonic says the network will improve safety and mobility on the road by sharing data between vehicles, infrastructure, roadways and traffic operators in real-time. The network is expected to provide the UDoT traffic operations centre with insights into crashes, severe weather or stalled vehicles. Personnel working at the centre wi

Iteris is to acquire Albeck Gerken, a traffic operations engineering company in Florida, for a total of $10.7 million. Iteris will use Albeck’s traffic management facility to develop its Intersection as a Service offering, which helps users monitor signalised operations to improve safety. Aleck’s facility includes a traffic management centre, traffic operations lab and training centre, from its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Aside from Tampa, Albeck has a second office in Orlando as well as other offic

Pack Health has partnered with Uber Health to offer free transportation for patients with chronic conditions travelling to medical appointments in the US state of Alabama. Mazi Rasulnia, CEO of Pack Health, says: “For members who lack reliable means of transportation, or whose health prevents them from driving themselves to key follow-up appointments, offering a free ride through Uber Health is a simple and intuitive way to close care gaps." Pack Health, a health coaching platform, says the partnership w

Itron has chosen Instrumentation Technologies (I-Tech) and Noesis.Network as winners of its inaugural smart city challenge. The companies won the awards for designing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for London and Glasgow, after developing solutions using Itron’s developer tools and IoT networks in both UK cities. In London, I-Tech designed a two-step solution to improve safety around the River Thames by allowing the city to monitor lifebelts and pinpoint the locations of a person in need of rescue su

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has released ActiveVision, a machine vision tool that transportation agencies can use to autonomously detect and report changes in traffic conditions. Dan Rossiter, SwRI research analyst, says: "The goal is to help transportation officials enhance their ITS capabilities with advanced algorithms that autonomously scan vast amounts of visual data, extracting and reporting actionable data." SwRI says the tool’s algorithms process camera data to provide real-time informatio

The UK government has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds painting white lines on busy roads to use as cycle lanes, says former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman. Boardman, cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester, has reportedly joined fellow commissioners Dame Sarah Storey (Sheffield City region) and Will Norman (London) in writing to transport secretary Chris Grayling calling for new measures to be adopted. The Guardian says the letter argues that painted cycle lanes do not make cyc

Careem is expanding its ride-hailing service to the Iraqi city of Basra, according to a report by Albawaba. The report says Careem’s app will provide a more reliable service for riders who currently have to deal with unmetered taxi prices. Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder of Careem, is quoted as saying: “Our technology is helping create employment opportunities and providing essential mobility for millions of people in Iraq.” Mohamed Al-Hakim, general manager of Careem Iraq says: “Within the ne

A new study shows that on-demand AVs and MaaS together could make a significant difference to traffic in Oslo, Norway – but only if ride-share is involved too If you replace today’s traditional private car ownership with a mixture of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and on-demand autonomous vehicles (AVs) running door-to-door, you could make dramatic cuts in city traffic. That, at least, is the view of researchers from COWI and PTV, who have modelled a variety of future scenarios based on the morning rush h

Two UK organisations - Transport Systems Catapult and Future Cities - have merged to form Connected Places Catapult. Helen Wylde explains what this new start is designed to achieve Changing towns and cities, changing transportation…changing the world – it’s all too easy to sound idealistic. But however sensible a pessimistic outlook might be, it in no way mitigates the absolute urgency of our need to succeed. The coming together of Transport Systems Catapult and Future Cities is significant because

Communauto is to launch a car-sharing service comprising hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) in Saint-Laurent, a borough in Montreal, Canada. Mayor Alan DeSousa says the Communauto Flex service will allow users “to get around more quickly in Saint-Laurent and easily access other Montréal boroughs”. It is free to join and works on a pay-as-you-go structure. Daily trips cost $0.41 per minute, $15 per hour and $50 per day. Drivers will only be allowed to park the Flex vehicles in a zone located by Boulevard