ITS-Related News Articles

A list of articles and news links related to ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) around the world. (Part of our list of Intelligent Transportation & Sentient Vehicles: Related Links.)

•  Solar powered Wifi lampposts The green lampposts are fitted with a light-emitting diode (LED) that provides bright light from low power generated by solar cells. The cells themselves can recharge in overcast weather and can generate enough solar energy for each lamppost without the need for an alternative power supply. The lampposts are equipped with Wi-Fi equipment, providing wireless internet access to the area surrounding them.

•  Transponder interoperability in the USA Several companies are rushing to provide technologies that could open up the cashless toll lanes almost anywhere for any motorist with a credit card.

•  Buses in Seattle as Traffic Sensors Researchers have attached sensors to city buses to detect when they are moving slowly, as part of a prototype traffic-alert system.

•  Google Earth to be integrated in VW Cars As it says...

•  Emergency Call system in all EU cars by 2009 ERTICO: eCall – in-vehicle Emergency Call system – will automatically send crucial information to the necessary services in the event of an accident.

•  Final report of US Intelligent Vehicle Initiatives research Short (14 page) report on schemes using "advanced vehicle safety technology".

•  Digital tachographs mandatory in EU by May 2006 So says the European Commission...

•  Broadband on buses in Tokyo a mobile router system that will allow users broadband access even when moving at around 130 miles per hour. The company will install its RTMR2400 network onto 10 buses traveling around the Fukuoka area in southern Japan.

•  Tender for a DSRC wireless mesh network in Michigan The network will support high performance handovers at expressway speeds, providing real-time Internet access to vehicles, using Motorola Mesh equipment.

•  Informing drivers spreads gridlock Up the minute traffic information in Australia caused gridlock to move to alternative (and less well provisioned) roads.

•  Italian-designer camera housings for London ANPR cameras that look for aesthetic being trialled in Southwark.

•  BMW, Audi put tech. in cars for older drivers European carmakers are rolling out space-age gadgets and luxury options to lure older customers as a regionwide baby bust begins to shrink the pool of drivers.

•  Black boxes that record airbag ignition information may be a privacy concern Police and insurance companies can find out how fast that car was going in the seconds before an accident, if the car was accelerating, on the brakes, and if the driver and passenger were wearing seatbelts.

•  Houston Parking Meter Payment using Cellphones The overhaul would make Houston the first city nationwide to manage parking meters on a wireless network.

•  Dubai launches traffic-aware navigation system Dalili provides many benefits to users, such as the ability to plan a route according to traffic information and updates received in real time, comprehensive guidance on unfamiliar roads especially for tourists, integration with intelligent parking facilities and navigation to various points of interest in Dubai.

•  Tech could redefine 'car talk' Exploring the use of car-to-infrastructure communications to improve safety and improve traffic flow.

•  Cars get PCs despite safety concerns Discusses some vehicle manufacturers' recent attempts at providing web-browsing and data storage facilities inside vehicles. Mentions the safety aspect.

•  New spyware could prevent drivers from speeding Suggests using GPS and a map of the country's speed limits disabling the accelerator if it determines you are speeding. Initial tests have been carried out which simply light a bulb and have a voice warning if speeding is detected.

•  Searching for Solutions to Congestion Conundrum Article about traffic congestion and its cost to the economy. Suggests all kinds of solutions, including road use charging, and other ITS solutions.

•  Helicopters do ANPR High-powered cameras capable of reading number plates from several thousand feet up have been bought by five police forces.
•  Melbourne transmits live congestion data to cars Intelematics is set to pilot an in-car traffic alert service that tracks congestion at busy city intersections and transmits live updates to a digital display over a spare data channel on the FM radio band.

•  Honda that steers itself Lane Keeping Assist System: the car can "read" clear white lines on the road and tries to stop you floating into the wrong lane through tiredness or inattention by automatically correcting the steering accordingly.

•  RPI-developed traffic system eases commute Each of 200 drivers in the test was given a hand-held computer, satellite-tracking device and a way to send each vehicle's status wirelessly to a computer at RPI, who then calculated the average speed on each road, which was then transmitted back to the drivers' computers to calculate the optimal route.

•  Rush Hour Characterisation Using Cell Phones Missouri is measuring traffic congestion on major roads based on the average time it takes drivers' cell phone signals to pass from cell tower to cell tower along those roads.

•  Readers, Radar or Video? The Future of Real-Time Traffic Data Collection The future of collecting (primarily count- and speed-related) data about vehicles. Links to a  report which examines collection and delivery methods for traffic information. It evaluates the use of cellular, satellite, RDS-TMC, VICS, DSRC, and digital radio technologies for real-time traffic systems, as well as the use of embedded roadway sensors, acoustic sensors, video, radar, microwave, RFID, and DSRC for collection of traffic information.

•  Spy in the sky keeps watch on speeding drivers Black boxes to be fitted to 10,000 cars in Abu Dhabi and Dubai which send location information back to a base, to be initially used for automatic speeding detection, and subsequently planned for use in road-pricing.

•  OBU for Parking Charges QFree deploys system in Portugal: A user presses a button when leaving the vehicle and then does it again when he or she returns. The parking fee details are stored on the OBU and when the vehicle next passes a transponder the user's account information is updated.

•  Long Range RFID Tags for Numberplates There are three new tags in the TagMaster LR (long-range) series: the LR-3, LR-6 and LR-12. In each case, the number indicates the read range in metres. Readable at 400 km/h, mountable on metal, destroyed when detached from mounting.

•  Siemens tests OBU with DSRC and GPS capabilities Successfully tested a hybrid OBU from Siemens VDO and a new software application with which both microwave-based and satellite-based toll solutions can be used by one single unit.

•  Vehicle Tracking Systems Automatic vehicle location (AVL) has evolved from simply tracking where vehicles are in real time, to tracking the health of engines and transmissions to interstate mileage and, finally, to tracking security information with the use of video.

•  Effects of Day/Time on Daily Commute This article analyzes a year of data to determine if minor tweaks to departure times can significantly impact commute length - or if it is all out of the driver's control.

•  GM Exec Says Driving is Dead Is the road environment more complicated than the sky at 50,000 feet? You bet. When we drive, we have only two dimensions of freedom, rather than three, and there are a lot more vehicles on the roadways than airplanes in the sky. But this is definitely coming.

•  Minister Commits to Road Pricing in UK Well... At least to have a major pilot project in 4-5 years. Lots of talk about TIF money and how certain cities are benefitting from the "pump priming" funding, but no real timetable.

•  Signal Priority Doesn't Help Gridlock A Virginia Tech traffic study on Route 1 in Northern Virginia found there is no benefit to giving transit buses signal priority, or the ability to extend green lights or shorten red lights in order to prevent traffic gridlock.

•  Car Morphs to Absorb Crash Energy Better Researchers at Siemens in Germany are developing a car that can anticipate a side-on impact and subtly alter its body shape to absorb the force of the crash.

•  Judge allows GPS evidence in Peterson case A court case in which data from a vehicle's GPS unit was deemed to be admissible as evidence.

•  Conference call on congestion Service in the US that allows people in a similar area to have a conference call on the current traffic conditions as they are driving (hands free conversations of course!).

•  Traffic studied using computer-linked cars Bulding up picture of traffic congestion based on sharing GPS data between vehicles. Initial trial used 200 cars.

•  In-vehicle device regulating London vehicle speeds A trial of speed-limiting technology is likely to take place next year with 10 TFL vehicles. The idea is that if the vehicle exceeds the speed limit, the engine revs are automatically limited so that it slows down again.

•  RUC on Crash-Course? A rant in Computing magazine. Says that will need a backhaul network, and the cellular one is unlikely to cope...

•  Interview with director of MS Automotive The Microsoft’s Automotive Business Unit (ABU) differs from other Microsoft product groups in that all engineering, testing, program management, business development, and marketing is managed in one self contained entity, functionally it’s almost like a separate company with Microsoft.

•  UK Motorway Journey Time Signs The congestion-busting sign system, which is being trialled by the Highways Agency, uses historical traffic data plus information from automatic number plate recognition cameras on the motorways to inform drivers of the expected travel time to specific junctions on the motorway. Lots of data sources, terabyte of data a month to do prediction. Windows/Oracle?-based system.

•  A Telematics Revolution Microsoft Windows Mobile for ­Automotive software is being in installed in Fiats. It does Bluetooth hands-free phone connections, voice recognition, playback of MP3 and WMA files, remote diagnostics via uploads of car-fault codes to your dealer, and navigation.

•  Device Tracks Truckers' Eyes A device which beeps when it detects that a driver has his eyes closed for too long.

•  Gainsville Wireless Access & Traffic Comms System A plan that would use a wireless network to connect traffic signals throughout Alachua County could also provide the backbone for wireless Internet access throughout Gainesville.

•  Should Information on Speeding from Black Boxes go to Police? Column from the Guardian on how insurers don't care about the speeds drivers travel at, but should they pass this on to the police to help save lives?

•  Honda Investing in Chips to Make Cars See When something moves into a region patrolled by the chip, the signals bounce back at a different pace, and the 3D image is changed. Software translates the mass of data into information or an image that humans can understand.

•  Photos from Convergence Show Some photos of the cars of the future.

•  Web Access in Cars Three decades after they began appearing on desktops, PCs are about to start showing up in vehicles.

•  Removing Traffic Lights Increases Safety Shared Space project says that taking lights away helped motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist more happily and safely.

•  Netherlands uses ITS in vehicles to decrease accidents Programme has shown that the large-scale use of intelligent vehicles can cut accidents by up to 8%. “Roads to the Future” equipped vehicles with systems to maintain a safe speed and keep a safe distance (Adaptive Cruise Control - ACC) and prevent unintentional lane departures (Lane Departure Warning - LDW).

•  Pirelli cybertyre Instantaneously measures and wirelessly transmits information about the forces regulating vehicle dynamics with miniaturized electronic sensors, using the vehicle's on-board computer to provide the driver with real-time data regarding the operational status of the tires.

•  Cameras in vehicles record accidents Used to help out with insurance claims, and improves driver performance (coaches etc.).

•  Periscope cameras on smart cars for parking enforcement High-tech cars mounted with a CCTV camera in a periscope are being trialled by a London council to improve traffic flow.

•  Mini users get customised billboards Users can register for an RFID tag that identifies them to the billboard. See the  pictures.

•  Philips proposes laser projectors on lamp posts Proposes attaching laser projectors, each with a rapidly-moving mirror that deflects its beam, to ordinary lampposts. These would be used to project images and words onto the road just ahead of approaching cars.

•  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/automobiles/25PARK.html?ex=1330059600&en=a2de5898e6bd4e76&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss Car parks with robots to park your car that sits on a pallet. Saves space!

•  Insurer will offer free cameras to let parents see teens' bad driving habits American insurance company fits cameras inside cars driven by teenagers, and uploads videos from when erratic driving events occur to analysts who rank the events in terms of danger, for parents to view.

•  Automaker shows off some cars that don't want to hit each other GM cars broadcasting their location to nearby cars and automatically averting accidents.

•  Greener (GPS-Tracking) Insurance UK insurer MoreTh?<n has created an insurance policy that uses technology as well as discounts to encourage greener driving.

• [html.ng/site=cnn&cnn_pagetype=article&cnn_position=728x90_top&cnn_rollup=technology&cnn_section=future_cars&params.styles=fs&tile=1178546649934&page.allowcompete=yes&domId=729629 Beyond the all-seeing car] Article from Popular Science on how acceptable a car with increasing intelligence will be, and whether autopilot in road vehicles will ever happen.

•  UK Cars to Have SOS Black Boxes from 2010 From 2010, all new cars will be fitted with the £400 devices, which automatically call the emergency services after a crash.

•  Hello, from the car in front News article about UCLA's traffic simulator which they will be opening up to other researchers. They are researching inter-vehicular communications.

•  Connected cars 'promise safer roads' Article about Car-2-Car Consortium's inter-vehicular communications using an ad-hoc network over 802.11p to allow vehicles to share their position, speed and sensor data. On-board processors can warn the driver about an impending collision.

•  Bermuda deploys RFID for Electronic Vehicle Registration Every vehicle is given a tamper-evident tag when they pay their registration tax. Roadside readers verify that vehicles have valid tags, and if they do not, photograph them. The government expects to recoup $11 million in lost revenue.

•  US State Uses Tailpipe Emissions Monitoring Equipment Mobile units record emissions using infrared beams and a video camera to perform ANPR. The most polluting drivers are then offered incentives to repair or scrap their vehicles.

•  Finding Car Pool Partners Using Facebook New Facebook applications allow people to find car pooling partners, and allay people's fears about not knowing the partner's background at all.

•  Fiat/Microsoft to Show Drivers How Polluting They Are Will display the quantity of CO generated, and tips on how to change driving style to reduce this.

•  OnStar Slows Cars Down For Police File a report with the police to say your car has been stolen. When they find the car and make chase, they can call OnStar to have the car slowed down. Aims to reduce crashes/fatalities and also make OnStar equipped cars less of theft target.