Global Picture |
Clear The latest attempts to
reduce congestion from
around the world
A problem shared...
San Francisco pilot to encourage mobility
-sharing services to reduce peak-time traffi c
Highways England
(HE) has
introduced an innovative
all-in-one response
vehicle that can stop and
direct highway traffic
after incidents, then clean
up spillages and repair
the road afterwards.
The ‘enhanced
customer response unit’
vehicle the expertise
and equipment of both
a traffic officer and
incident support staff
who deal with clean-ups
and road repairs.
The vehicle will be
manned by both HE’s
traffic officers and
incident support staff
from highways contractor
Kier. The first of its kind
to be launched in the UK
and operated this way,
the ECRU will help the
agency manage and clear
incidents more efficiently
and effectively.
The vehicle was
inspired by similar
technologies used on the
Australian road network.
The new unit is the first
of five ECRU vehicles set
to take part in the trial
in the West Midlands.
In order to give added
protection to road
workers and road users,
a crash cushion is
mounted on the back of
the ECRU, absorbing the
impact from moving
vehicles if struck.
paths
Old tools, new tricks
SRI tool uses existing cameras to
autonomously detect traffi c changes
The Texas-based
Southwest
Research Institute (SwRI)
has launched a new
machine vision tool that
road authorities can use
to autonomously detect
and report traffic
conditions at the ITS
America Annual Meeting
in Washington DC.
Developed in-house
by the independent,
nonprofit, applied R&D
organization, the SwRI
ActiveVision system’s
algorithms process
camera data to provide
real-time information on
weather conditions and
other factors affecting
traffic congestion.
ActiveVision can be
configured to operate
with existing traffic
cameras to analyze road.
Using advanced
computer vision and
machine learning
capabilities, ActiveVision
can detect and report
actionable condition
changes and anomalies
using live feeds from
existing traffic cameras.
Miovision, a Canadian developer
of AI-based traffic management
technology, has taken part in a project
designed to demonstrate to people
how their travel choices can lead to
a fall in traffic congestion.
The project took place in the City of
Luxembourg, which faces an uncommon
challenge in that almost 45% of the
workforce consists of cross-border
workers who commute from outside
the country every single day.
It needed reliable data to show the
number of cars, buses, trams, and
bicycles, as well as the direction in
which they travelled. Sensity chose
Miovision’s DataLink platform and
Scout video-based traffic collection
tool to show how many people were
sitting in the different vehicles, which
provided the information needed to
create the awareness campaign.
Traffic-reducing vehicle
Highways England trials using response
vehicle to reduce highway congestion
Congestion choices
Luxembourg to inform of travel decision consequences
010 Traffic Technology International July/August 2019
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
San Francisco’s
Metropolitan
Transportation
Commission (MTC) has
teamed up with
software developer
Luum to launch a new
pilot program for
improving peak-period
traffic flows on select
Bay Area freeways by
encouraging mobilitysharing
The MTC will fund up
The Bay Area Commute
Challenge Pilot program
aims to attract companies
with 3,000 or more
workers to test strategies
for spurring the formation
of two- and three-person
car pools and other
shared-use commute
modes to reduce singleoccupancy
vehicle trips
on Bay Area toll bridges
and freeway corridors
with Express Lanes or
other carpool lanes.
services.
to US$2m in grants to
help equip the region’s
major employers with
Luum software to
manage commutebenefit
incentives, car
pool programs, parking
permits and other
congestion-relief tools.
US$2m
The funding San
Francisco’s Metropolitan
Transportation Commission
is offering to equip
employers with mobilitysharing
software
/www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com