Amey will trial hydrogen-powered vehicles on Sheffield roads. Credit: courtesy of AMEY.
The new Parking Availability feature from Parkmobile shows you where your nearest open parking spots are. Credit: PRNewsfoto / Parkmobile.
Baidu has received Beijing’s first batch of licences to conduct open road tests for its autonomous driving vehicles cars in designated areas of the city. Credit: Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing).
Cloud-based wrong-way driver warning. Credit: Bosch.

UK’s Amey to trial hydrogen-powered vehicles on Sheffield roads

UK-based infrastructure support service provider Amey is set to trial two hydrogen-powered vans as part of its plans to help improve its environmental performance on Sheffield roads.

The trial is aimed at extending the range of power supplied by the battery to around 200 miles.

Under its Streets Ahead highways maintenance contract, which will involve the upgrade of the city roads, pavements, street lighting and bridges for 25 years, the company already has two electric vans at its depot at Olive Grove.

Toyota to form $2.84bn company to advance self-driving research

Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota (TMC) is set to form a new JPY300bn ($2.84bn) company Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development (TRI-AD) to expedite the development of automated driving solutions.

In this regard, the company concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aisin Seiki and Denso Corporation (Denso) to jointly develop fully integrated, production-quality software for automated driving.

Parkmobile introduced new feature to find parking spots

North American smart parking solutions provider Parkmobile introduced a new app feature that will enable users to find available on-street parking spots in more than 100 cities across the US.

The feature is available in iOS and android platforms and will be accessible for ParkmobilePro members.

Studies showed that the average person spends around 17 hours annually to locate parking that costs time, fuel and emissions.

COWI to design Mumbai Trans Harbour Link in India

COWI secured a contract to design a section of the planned Mumbai Trans Harbour Link bridge in India.

The 22.8km-long sea-crossing bridge will connect South Mumbai with Navi Mumbai traversing through Sewri mudflats, Pir Pau Jetty and Thane Creek channels. It is expected to reduce travel time by one hour.

Owned by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the link will also offer connectivity to Nhava Sheva Port, Mumbai-Goa Highway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport.

China’s Baidu secured approval to test autonomous cars in Beijing

Chinese firm Baidu secured licences to test its autonomous driving vehicles in designated areas of Beijing.

Five cars powered by Baidu’s Apollo platform will be tested on public roads within the Yizhuang and Daxing districts in the southeast suburbs of Beijing.

Introduced in July last year, the Apollo platform enables its partners to develop their own autonomous driving systems. The platform has been used by more than 90 entities, including original equipment manufacturers (OEM), Tier-1 suppliers, research groups and local governments.

New South Wales began testing automated cars

The Government of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia launched a trial to investigate the effectiveness of vehicle automation technology on the road.

The trial will see the use of cars with integrated vehicle automation technology at one of Australia’s major motorway networks to evaluate performance under current infrastructure.

Multiple automobile manufacturers such as BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes, Audi, Tesla and Volvo are taking part in the trial.

Bosch integrated wrong-way driver alert into Antenne app

Antenne Bayern radio station collaborated with Bosch to integrate the latter’s Cloud-based wrong-way driver warning function into its app.

The integration will alert all Antenne Bayern radio listeners such as drivers and other road users about wrong-way driving, thereby reducing road accidents.

On average, wrong-way drivers kill 20 people every year in Germany.

Atlantia and ACS agreed €18bn joint bid to buy toll road operator Abertis

Italian company Atlantia and builder ACS agreed a joint bid valued at €18bn to acquire Spanish toll road operator Abertis Infraestructuras.

For a period of five months, Atlantia and ACS had been locked in a bidding war for the toll road operator.

The Spanish Government was concerned that victory by an Italian company may leave some of the country’s key transport arteries under foreign control.

Jacobs won contract to improve road network in Manchester, UK

Jacobs Engineering Group secured a contract from UK-based Highways England to develop potential solutions aimed at improving road transport network around the motorways north-west of Manchester.

The contract forms part of the Manchester North-West Quadrant project, which aims to enhance the capacity of east-west road connections.

These connections link the city regions of Liverpool and Manchester across the Pennines to Leeds, Sheffield and also to the North East.

AfDB to support 208km road project work in Rwanda

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is set to partner with the Government of Rwanda for the rehabilitation and widening of the 208km-long Kagitumba-Kayonza-Rusumo road in the Eastern province of the country.

As well as AfDB, the European Union (EU) Delegation in Rwanda, Embassy of Japan in Rwanda and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are associated with this project.

AfDB will contribute $93.1m to the project, representing nearly 51% of the total cost of $183.39m in building the Rwandan section.