Innovate

Atkins has been offered an advisory role by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to help it enhance the mobility and safety of the state’s transportation system.

In collaboration with two other consultants, Atkins will support CDOT’s RoadX Program, which aims to modernise Colorado’s transportation system with the latest technologies.

The total investment earmarked for the programme in 2017 is $20m.

During the three-year contract, Atkins will assist in the deployment of technologies that will reduce the cost of transporting goods by 25%, reduce casualties on a rural highway, and ease congestion on the state’s key corridors.

Westbourne Communications has been awarded a contract by Innovate UK, an agency backed by the UK Government, to conduct a feasibility study that will test public perceptions on autonomous vehicles.

Under the contract, the communications consultancy firm will conduct workshops with public feedback and stakeholders, including politicians, academics, manufacturers and insurers. It will review and explore the feasibility of the Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire as a potential test site for the technology.

The study is part of a larger project led by the People in Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Environments (PAVE), a consortium of Westbourne, the UK Autonomic Energy Authority’s RACE facility, Siemens and Amey, as well as Oxbotica, a wing of Oxford University’s Mobile Robotics Group.

"Atkins will support CDOT’s RoadX Program, which aims to modernise Colorado’s transportation system with the latest technologies."

The activities of the consortium are financed through a fund managed by Innovate UK.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has awarded a four-year, €10.4m ($11.4m) contract to Kapsch TrafficCom North America, a subsidiary of Kapsch TrafficCom, for the upgrade and modernisation of the former’s integrated transportation management system (ITMS) at the Highway Operations Center (HOC).

Under the contract, Kapsch TrafficCom North America will provide its proprietary software suites to help manage the MasDOT’s state-wide roadway network, including the Boston Metropolitan Highway System tunnel complex and associated facilities.

Kapsch will supply its DYNAC software suite to integrate 50 independent traffic and facility management data systems into one platform, as well as enable MassDOT to execute real-time response plans to help HOC operators in managing time-sensitive and critical situations.

Image: A feasibility study will be conducted by Westbourne Communications to test public perceptions on autonomous vehicles in the UK. Photo: courtesy of Westbourne Communications.