Traffic
Honda demonstrates V2V communication system for motorcyclists
No matter what your skill level, being aware of what's going on around you is THE most critical safety factor for all road users - if you don't see it coming, you are in big trouble. For motorcyclists, who are simply less visible on the roads and face a much greater risk of death or serious injury in the event that an accident does occur, this factor becomes even more important. In the past, the technology dedicated to inter-vehicle communication has been limited to blowing the horn or perhaps catching a radio report of an accident up ahead, but things are changing fast. This brings us to Honda's latest innovation in the field. The company has debuted a new Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication (V2V) system aimed at reducing road casualties of both motorcyclists and car drivers which links vehicles within a defined radio range via a wireless LAN network to provide immediate access to data on vehicle location, accidents, congestion or other potential threats that lie ahead. Read More
Mercedez-Benz adaptive high-beam assistant
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We’ve all nearly been blinded and had to flash our high beams at oncoming drivers who have failed to dip their lights, but Mercedes-Benz' latest adaptive lighting innovation could help end of such dangerous incidents by taking driver error out of the equation. The newly developed high-beam assistant system uses a dash-mounted camera to automatically adapt headlamp range to the distance of other vehicles, meaning drivers will at all times benefit from optimum headlamp range by becoming aware of danger spots, pedestrians and other road users more easily and more quickly. Read More
Garmin GPSMAP 600 series: one for the road... and the sea
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Garmin has combined elements of marine GPS navigation with a touchscreen user interface derived from the nüvi line of automotive units for its latest multi-functional offering - the GPSMAP 600 series. The GPSMAP 640 and GPSMAP 620 (which is designed for markets outside the US) both feature a ruggedized, waterproof 5.2” WVGA touchscreen display and come preloaded with both street maps and marine charts. Read More
ProNav GPS software for heavy goods vehicles
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Navevo has developed GPS software for heavy vehicles that keeps drivers informed about the unique obstacles they face on the road. The £199.99 ProNav system offers dynamic routing and navigation optimization based on vehicle dimensions, legal restrictions, and weather and road conditions. Read More
Europeans buses trial road safety sensor systems
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Vehicle-based sensors that link back to centralized infrastructure are seen as a promising solution to traffic management and road safety in our increasingly clogged cites. Last year we reported on Nissan's efforts, now European researchers are trialling a similar system on buses. Read More
Dtect’s infra-red people and vehicle counter
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July 31, 2007 Traffic jams, aside from being extremely frustrating, are also extremely costly. The Texas Transport Institute calculated that during 1996 traffic congestion ate up $74 billion in lost hours and petrol – and with congestion only rising since then it’s a sure bet that even more money has gone down the drain while commuters get nowhere. In an effort to combat congestion, many governments are looking towards car-pooling, offering monetary incentives to businesses that encourage it and introducing high occupancy vehicle lanes. However, a potential problem lies in policing them. To that end, Loughborough University has released the Dtect system – an infra red camera and image processing unit that can determine how many occupants a car has in an instant. And unlike a sleepy toll booth operator, or other photography based systems, it won’t be fooled by dressed up mannequins. Read More
Oops I’m Late - mobile notification solution for latecomers
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July 3, 2007 Before the advent of the mobile phone, running 15 minutes late meant just that – you arrived 15 minutes late and people waited for you. Enter text messaging, PDAs and the impatience of the 21st century psyche where you are expected to notify all concerned about the most microscopic change to your ETA – usually resulting in the stressful and sometimes dangerous practice of calling or scrambling a text message while in transit. “Oops I’m Late!” is a novel solution in the form of a newly released software package that uses GPS to calculate the distance between your location and destination and automatically notifies designated contacts that you’re running behind schedule. Read More
It takes two-wheels to beat the traffic
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June 28, 2007 Traffic congestion has to be one of the world’s greatest time-wasters and spending long hours at the wheel just trying to get to and from work is not only unproductive, it’s also very stressful. Now new research from the U.K. suggests that the best way to beat this problem (short of working from home) is to switch from four wheels to two. Analysis conducted by the RAC Foundation has shown that commuters could shave up to three hours off their weekly commutes by choosing a motorcycle or scooter over the car, with the biggest savings to be gained in Central London and the East of England. Read More
GPS mapping enriched with historical traffic speed data
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May 30, 2007 Satellite navigation can already tell you the shortest route from A to B, or the way that uses the most high-speed freeways - but on a gridlocked arterial freeway, speed limits are more of an insult than an indication of travel speed. That's why Tele Atlas have included new information in their latest U.S. mapping data so your SatNav system can analyse 2 years' worth of historical traffic speed data and tell you which route is likely to get you there fastest at a particular time of day. Read More
