London to review £372m a year Freedom Pass
The free travel benefits enjoyed by more than a million older Londoners are to be reviewed because of the soaring cost of the Freedom Pass. The pass provides free travel on all Transport for London services and national rail services within Greater London, says The Standard,and is funded by the 33 London boroughs but its cost is […]
Oxa receives nearly £15m BP funding boost after admitting it needed financial assistance
British self-driving technology pioneer Oxa has received a significant funding boost from BP after spending ‘millions of pounds’ to develop autonomous vehicles. The Daily Telegraph reports that the Oxford-based firm received nearly $20m (£14.8m) from BP Ventures, the oil group’s venture capital arm, and tech backer IP Group earlier this month, filings show. The financial […]
NVIDIA launches Alpamayo family of open-source AI models
NVIDIA has unveiled the NVIDIA Alpamayo family of open AI models, simulation tools and datasets designed to accelerate the next era of safe, reasoning‑based autonomous vehicle (AV) development. AVs must safely operate across an enormous range of driving conditions. Rare, complex scenarios, often called the “long tail,” remain some of the toughest challenges for autonomous systems to […]
TomTom Orbis maps to power CARIAD’s Automated Driving systems
TomTom has announced that CARIAD, the automotive software company of the Volkswagen Group, will use TomTom’s advanced Orbis Maps as a core component of automated driving systems developed by CARIAD. TomTom Orbis Maps for automated driving (AD) will provide fundamental spatial context to amplify and enlarge the understanding that CARIAD’s systems have of their surroundings by providing highly accurate, up-to-date location information. As an additional map-based layer within the overall […]
HERE Technologies make two major announcements as CES 2026 gets underway
HERE Technologies have made two major announcements ahead of the opening of the 2026 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show )(CES 2026) in Las Vegas. Firstly, HERE and Amazon are collaborating to bring an AI-powered navigation solution. At the heart of this advancement is the integration of HERE Navigation with Amazon’s Alexa Custom Assistant (ACA). The collaboration […]
Council pothole compensation claims rise by 90% in three years
Pothole compensation claims submitted to 177 local authorities have jumped by 91% in just three years – soaring from 27,731 in 2021 to 53,015 in 2024, new data analysed by the RAC suggests. A Freedom of Information request to 207 councils across England, Scotland and Wales representing nearly a quarter of a million (246,510) miles […]
Southwark Council offers Zipcar members free parking permits
Southwark Council is offering Zipcar free parking permits and urging the company to keep operating in the borough and across London. The announcement comes after Zipcar proposed to end its operations in the UK at the end of the month. Southwark has an ambitious Streets for People programme to help people walk, cycle and use public transport […]
Sharon Clelland appointed new Traffic Commissioner
Sharon Clelland has appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport as a Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain, starting in the role on 6 April 2026. Ms Clelland joins the Traffic Commissioners from her role as Head of Legal Services for the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the independent body providing regulatory oversight of policing […]
Menai Bridge crossbeam set for permanent repair
A permanent repair for the Menai Bridge crossbeam is being planned, following a temporary fix that allowed the bridge to reopen to vehicles under 7.5 tonnes on 24 October. The permanent works are due to begin early this year, subject to weather conditions, says the North Wales Pioneer. Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament […]
Bee Network launches new bus route one year on from completion of bus franchising
A new all electric Bee Network service is now live in Salford, connecting the city region’s fastest growing population with retail and economic hubs, previously an underserved area. Launched on 4 January, the new 30 service is now operating from the Trafford Centre through Trafford Park, to MediaCity, along Ordsall Lane and to the City […]