New technology revolution in urban traffic control?
Urban traffic control is a well-defined and practised art. Nevertheless, there are technologies here and on the horizon with the potential to revolutionise how we do things. By Gavin Jackman and Andrew Kirkham, TRL, and Jason Barnes. Distributed monitoring and control of urban traffic networks and flows is nothing new. PC-based Urban Traffic Control (UTC) is now well established and operating in many locations around the world. However, it is worth considering the effects of the huge growth in the use of sm
Telvent announces strategic partnership with Peek Traffic for North America
Telvent announced today a new working relationship with Peek Traffic Corporation that will allow traffic management operators to improve traffic flow and safety, as well as maximise resources.
Cobra GPS system wins CES award
Cobra Electronics, a manufacturer of GPS navigation systems for professional and recreational drivers, has announced that its 7750 Platinum GPS Navigation series has been won a CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Award in the In-Vehicle Navigation/Telematics/ITS product category.
Refurbishing ageing VMS with new technology
Virginia DoT faced a challenge common to many highway authorities around the world: the need, in economically challenging times, to replace ageing variable message signs reaching the end of their operational life. For some 25 years now, since the mid 80s, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT), has deployed variable message signs (VMS) as part of its motorist information systems. Throughout the state there are still many old 'flip-disk' signs. Some of the companies that provided these electronic messa
Iteris to acquire Meridian Environmental Technologies
Iteris has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire Meridian Environmental Technology, a privately-held company based in North Dakota.
Improving driver information, making in-vehicle systems a reality
Scott J. McCormick, president of the Connected Vehicle Trade Association, considers what we have to do
next to make the more widespread deployment of automotive telematics a reality
Urban mobility and demand management - the Mobility Credits Model
Vito Marcolongo and Marco Troglia, Quaeryon srl describe the Mobility Credits Model, which is intended to combine inducements and fairness to improve mobility while reducing its more negative economic and environmental effects
GIS-based state of the art emergency response, damage recovery
The gecko is one of several members of the lizard family which demonstrate autotomy: the ability to re-grow a tail or some other appendage lost during a time of peril. The GITA's GECCo programme is looking to give US infrastructures much the same capability
US research institute signs strategic alliance with body in India
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have signed a three-year strategic alliance agreement in Pune, India, to cooperate in the development of novel technologies in fuels research and engine development projects.
Barcelona's bike share scheme a life saver
A recent study of the health benefits of Barcelona's Bicing communal bike share scheme, reveals it is a life-saver, responsible for saving 12 lives a year. Barcelona's community bicycle programme, Bicing, was inaugurated in March 2007. One of several schemes operated in cities around the world by Clear Channel, it has fulfilled its role of providing an efficient, ecologically friendly and critically important form of transport, helping to increase urban mobility and reduce street congestion. Clear Channel h
US incident management needs national standardisation
I-95 Corridor Coalition's Tom Martin discusses the state of the art in incident management and what visitors to this year's ITS World Congress can expect of the first ever Emergency Responder-Incident Management Day. Developments in incident management are driven in the main by need. A bald statement, and one which holds no surprises, it nevertheless quantifies the evolutionary process within the I-95 Corridor Coalition over the last decade and more. Spread over 16 states from Maine to Florida, the Coalitio
U-blox develops stolen vehicle tracking solution for the Brazilian market
U-blox has announced the immediate availability of an off-the-shelf reference design for the Brazilian stolen vehicle tracking (SVT) market.
International standards appeal
There is an urgent need to align technology standards as cooperative ITS solutions become mainstream, says ITS Australia president Dr Norm Pidgeon
IBTTA 2011 Annual Meeting highlights developing trends in tolling
Alain Estiot, chief meeting organiser of this year's IBTTA Annual Meeting and Exhibition, talks about hot topics for discussion. The IBTTA's 79th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, which takes place this year in Berlin in September, will once again take many of the developing trends from around the world and look at their effects on the tolling sector. Host organisation Toll Collect's Alain Estiot, chief meeting organiser, says that the event has to be viewed against a backdrop of major global change.
TRW pedestrian protection system
TRW Automotive Holdings has developed an advanced pedestrian protection system that uses up to three remote acceleration sensors (RAS) located in the front bumper area.
Standardise global ITS protocols to enable interoperability
ITS America has a new chief technology officer. ITS International caught up with Nu Rosenbohm at this year's World Congress to gather his thoughts on the main challenges at home and abroad
US market for ANPR will double in five years
While suppliers of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) in the UK endure a stagnant market and budget cuts, growth opportunities in the US continue to ramp up.
Debating road user charging systems
Are pre-launch trials of charging systems the way to improve public acceptance? Or is the real key a more robust political attitude? Here, leading system suppliers discuss the issue. The use of distance-based Road User Charging (RUC) is now well established, at least for heavy goods vehicles on strategic roads. However demand management for all vehicles, whether a distance-based charge or some form of cordon scheme, has yet to make significant progress. This is in spite of the logic and equity of RUC being
Bringing V2I and V2V communications to workzone safety
Imran Hayee of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering talks about efforts to bring V2I and V2V communications into work zones. With USDOT backing and under the auspices of the ITS Joint Program Office Connected Vehicle Research (formerly IntelliDrive) research programme, M. Imran Hayee of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering along with team of his students, have been conducting research into the application of
AVT acquires VDS Vosskühler
Allied Vision Technologies (AVT) has acquired 100% of the shares of the specialist infrared camera producer VDS Vosskühler, based in Osnabrück, Germany.