World’s longest indoor CAV test track opens in Sweden
The Swedish test track AstaZero is opening the world’s longest indoor facility for testing active safety systems and autonomous technologies for all types of vehicles. The facility is 700m long and 40m wide and enables testing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with reproducible light and surfaces. “AstaZero Dry Zone will play an […]
Columnist Hitchens tells Highways Voices e-scooters are “a recipe for injury”
One of the UK’s leading, and most outspoken, newspaper columnists has told the Highways News podcast Highways Voices that if you were designing a recipe for injury in busy town and city centres, you couldn’t come up with a better one than e-scooters. Listen here. Mail on Sunday writer Peter Hitchens appeared on Highways Voices […]
Jenoptik’s red light enforcement camera approved
Automated enforcement specialists Jenoptik Traffic Solutions UK have received Home Office Type Approval for a new Red Light enforcement system which uses a stand-alone camera to spot violations at signal-controlled junctions. Unlike other devices on the market, the VECTOR SR Red Light operates in a “non-invasive” way, removing the need for loops or strips in […]
RAC reports sharpest quarterly rise in pothole-related call-outs
The RAC says that in the first quarter of 2021, it had to go and help nearly 5,000 drivers who’d been forced to stop because they’d hit a pothole. The motoring club says this is a three-fold increase in the number of such breakdowns compared to the last quarter of 2020. 4,694 drivers called the […]
Operation Brock barrier on M20 to be removed
A movable barrier installed to cope with any traffic problems due to Brexit-related freight hold-ups in Kent is being removed after transport managers decided it’s not needed. The removal will start on Saturday 24 April and take two days. It’ll mean the M20 in Kent returns to three full width lanes at the national speed […]
M25 driver caught ignoring red ‘X’ sign loses court battle
A driver has been ordered to pay nearly £1,000 in fines and costs after losing a court battle to overturn a fixed penalty notice for driving under a red X on the M25 in 2018. SaferHighways.co.uk reports they were among nearly 300 drivers who were spotted travelling in closed lanes while Police dealt with a […]
Japanese use motorway toilets to monitor driver fatigue
A motorway service station in Japan is offering drivers the chance to check their tiredness levels while using the toilet. A Japan Today article tells how its reporter Masanuki Sunakoma tried out the technology at Kanagawa Prefecture’s Ebina Service Area, 45 minutes from Tokyo. “Stepping inside the stall, he took a seat and saw a digital […]
Two dead in “driverless” Tesla crash
Two men are dead after a Tesla crashed into a tree in Texas while nobody was in the driving seat. TV Station KPRC in Houston says that Police believe “no one was driving” the fully-electric 2019 Tesla when the accident happened. The report says there was a person in the passenger seat of the front […]
Ocado takes £10m stake in Oxbotica
Grocery delivery business Ocado is investing £10 million in a commercial partnership with Oxford-based driverless vehicle technology company Oxbotica. The companies will collaborate on hardware and software interfaces for autonomous vehicles, which they say will enhance and integrate Oxbotica’s autonomy software platform into a variety of vehicles. The use cases range from vehicles that operate […]
ITS (UK) launches new education campaign around transport technology
The UK’s Intelligent Transport Systems trade association, ITS (UK) is drawing up a series of case studies, fact sheets and blog posts explaining the benefits of using technology to deliver safer, greener and more efficient mobility. The campaign follows a series of criticisms of some aspects of technology use, often around smart motorways, which it […]