German ITS company SMEV AG becomes new STA Full Member

25 February 2019

STA welcomes SMEV AG as a new STA Full Member. The company, headquartered in Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany, has developed SMEV ONE, an ITS Cooperative System that changes the way of addressing emergency responses in the Smart City.

SMEV ONE is an exclusive and patented system that provides an open path to emergency services by clearing junctions from disturbing traffic, and reorganising traffic dynamics in real time in the area surrounding the route to an incident. This smart mobility innovation resorts to geo-location and not to devices installed in traffic lights.

STA General Meeting 2/2019 held on 20 February 2019

21 February 2019

Following a 1st General Meeting in 2019 in which the STA headquarters were moved to a new location in Brussels (Belgium), the second STA General Meeting of the year was held on 20 February.  It was the occasion for the Members to review the progress and achievements made during 2018, and in addition  approve the work plan for 2019.

NEWS OF INTEREST

Preston Bypass: Taking the high-tech road

26 February 2019

Last December marked a major anniversary in Great Britain’s roadbuilding history - 60 years have now passed since the country’s first motorway, the Preston Bypass, was formally opened by prime minister Harold Macmillan, heralding the dawn of a new era for motoring.

With construction of the more celebrated M1 having begun earlier in the same year, few outside of our industry – and indeed few within it – are aware that this eight-mile section of road that now forms part of the M6 and M55 was the UK’s original high-speed route.

Described at the time by the minister of transport, Harold Watkinson, as a ‘guinea pig’ for all future projects, the Preston Bypass provided an initial blueprint for motorway design and construction.

Detroit to use AI system to assess entire road network

19 February 2019

RoadBotics, a company that uses artificial intelligence to assess the condition of roads, has been chosen to assess the city of Detroit’s entire 4,185km road network.

Detroit will be the first city to pilot the company’s product, which is intended to enable the city to maintain its roads before they fail, thereby cutting costs and extending the life of the pavement. 

Oladayo Akinyemi, deputy director of Detroit’s Department of Public Works, commented in a press statement: “This partnership and pilot will provide us with data and insights about our road conditions that will help our engineers determine where to objectively allocate our resources and maximise investment in maintaining our residential streets in the best condition.”

Plastic road trials expanded by UK government to stop potholes

18 February 2019

The government is investing £22.9m into plastic road technology that could stop potholes from forming – which is among the new technology being tested as part of research and trials to future proof UK highways.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling said the money is to be used to fund real-world tests across eight local authorities in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cumbria, Staffordshire, Kent, Reading, Suffolk, Solihull and Birmingham.

A project named Live Labs, which does real-world tests of new road surfaces and technologies, is being used by the local authorities outlined above, in hopes that these emerging innovations provide long-term solutions for the pothole-infested roads.