UTC

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor is investing $500m in Uber as the companies intend to combine their technology to develop an autonomous ride-sharing fleet. Through the agreement, Toyota will deploy a fleet of purpose-built Autono-MaaS (autonomous mobility as a service) vehicles on Uber’s ride-sharing network. The Autono-MaaS vehicles will feature Uber’s autonomous driving system and the Toyota Guardian automated safety support system. Toyota will also utilise its Mobility Services Platform, a core

Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has won a five-year deal to provide multimodal transport management solutions in Sydney, Australia. The $35m intelligent congestion management programme contract with Transport for New South Wales (NSW) will “enhance monitoring and management of the road network across NSW”, co-ordinating public transport and providing real-time information about disruptions. Cubic – along with WSP, PTV, Mentz and Microsoft – will provide a technology platform which integrates the

A joint team from the Universities of Texas, Wyoming and Kansas has won the first Transportation Technology Tournament organised by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The winning project set out to address what it called “non-recurrent congestion challenges” in Washington, DC, such as increased traffic on days when the Washington Nationals baseball team played at home. The team worked with the District Department of Transportation (DoT) to develop real-time traveller information systems to

Uber intends to focus more on its electric scooter and bike business as it says individual modes of transport are better-suited to inner city travel. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, believes users will make more frequent, shorter journeys in the future, the Financial Times reports. "During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-tonne hulk of metal to take one person ten blocks,” he says. Uber’s Jump electric bikes are now available in eight US cities such as San Francisco and Washington DC, and are

BYD has deployed the first e6 electric cars to provide a clean energy VIP taxi and car sharing service in Bangkok. The initiative stems from an agreement with the Land Transport Department of Thailand: 101 out of an intended 1,000 vehicles have so far been provided. BYD says its proprietary iron phosphate battery can re charge the e6 within two hours and allow the vehicles to travel up to 400km.

UK-based manufacturer Hollco has delivered a new portable traffic light system which it says will cut costs and reduce site visits. Phil Hutchinson, Hollco’s director, says the RadioConnect2 (RC2) can operate for up to 18 days without needing to change or recharge batteries. “It will also mean less disruption for road users and a reduction in unnecessary customer contacts for the contracting organisation,” Hutchinson adds. Go Traffic Management, which has received the new system from Hollco, cont

Gothenburg Public Transportation company Västtrafik invited artists from Sweden’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities to repaint six trams as part of August’s EuroPride celebration. Prints of the tram photographs will be auctioned at the Proud Trams art exhibition, with all proceeds going to charity RFSL to support LGBT rights. The colours of the rainbow are represented by the tram line numbers from red to purple – the trams travelled through Gothenburg during EuroPride from

UK-based air quality specialists EarthSense is developing an app which will identify and map clean air routes for people cycling or exercising. The company says the application could also help wider clean air strategies when combined with population movement data. According to EarthSense, collating this data would allow key decision makers to identify popular exercise routes and target resources to improve air quality at these locations. The app is being funded by the European Space Agency's grant p

US electric mobility company Bird has formed a global safety advisory board to implement campaigns and products to improve the safety for riders using electric scooters. The board will also seek to improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists who share space with riders using low-speed e-scooters. Additionally, Bird intends to carry on working with cities through its Save Our Sidewalks pledge to boost rider safety and improve the quality of bikes lanes. The scope of the work includes repainting an