March April 2024

March/April 2024 | www.itsinternational.com

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ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND URBAN MOBILITY

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Simulation is set to revolutionise traffic control

Also…

Laura Chace of ITS America on AI & V2X Taking its toll: Buenos Aires introduces MLFF Is it time to standardise WiM certification?

The latest show coverage

Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024: www.intertrafficlive.com ITS America 2024: www.itsamericalive.com

North AmericaEdition

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CONTENTS

Contents

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March/April 2024

05 COMMENT

35 WEIGH IN MOTION WiM vendors are frustrated that OIML accreditation is not proving to be enough to satisfy tenders in some countries. ISWIM suggests a way forward…

06 NEWS DIGEST 08 CONTRACTS & DEALS 10 INTERVIEW

19 15

What is Laura Chace most looking forward to at ITS America 2024?

“Well, of course, the entire event, right?

I always say this, but it’s true!”

39 TOLLING

SAFETY

43 AUTOMATED DRIVING

Collaboration between AGD Systems and North Line Canada demonstrates the value of traffic experts getting together to improve pedestrian safety

What will driverless vehicles really be good for? Bern Grush of Urban Robotics Foundation offers his thoughts on the big issues

19 URBAN TRAFFIC CONTROL

47 PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS

Digital twin and graph technology are helping Transport for London to ease congestion in the UK’s capital

27

Tattile has deployed its free-flow ANPR system consisting of Vega Smart 2HD and Axle Counter cameras - powered

by AI - in Buenos Aires

North AmericaEdition

21 DIGITAL TWINS

North America area only

Simulation-based optimisation is the foundation for real-time predictive analytics when it comes to optimal traffic signal programming

27 INTERTRAFFIC

AMSTERDAM 2024

Smart, safe & sustainable mobility for all: with its emphasis on climate, AI - and even drones - this edition has something for everyone

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31 VENTURE CAPITAL Seed funding can help budding creators of mobility solutions realise their dreams: Laura Fox of Streetlife International Ventures explains Identical twins what venture capital investors look for March/April 2024 | www.itsinternational.com

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Simulation is set to revolutionise traffic control

Cover story

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Twin peaks

Also…

Laura Chace of ITS America on AI & V2X Taking its toll: Buenos Aires introduces MLFF Is it time to standardise WiM certification?

The latest show coverage

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Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024: www.intertrafficlive.com ITS America 2024: www.itsamericalive.com

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NA 01 JTA Research Lab has been

created to identify critical transportation policy questions, and then get academics to help solve them

NA 06 National Electrical

Manufacturers Association’s revision of standards relating to VMS will help to improve interoperability

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Tolling+ BORN FOR MLFF

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COMMENT

“TRAFFIC NERDS ASSEMBLE! IT’S SHOW TIME”

“

Being a nerd should be a badge of honour in our industry

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detail is what makes the difference between a good product or solution and a great one.

Nerds are cool: who hasn’t nerded out at a particularly interesting conference session on trends in urban mobility? Which of us hasn’t spent more time photographing intersection infrastructure than tourist spots on a city break? Why are road signs so fabulous? Why doesn’t the US have more roundabouts?

We should be embracing the difference.

It’s time to get in touch with our inner geek.

This is our tribe, these are our people. Being a nerd should be a badge of honour in our industry – literally, as it happens, since we have a number of branded pin badges to give away in Amsterdam and Phoenix.

Come and say hello at Intertraffic - stand 01.105 – and you’ll see us walking the floors at the ITS America Conference & Expo. If you can’t be there, then please follow our coverage at the links below. Either way, join our movement. ITS

TRAFFIC NERDS ASSEMBLE! www.intertrafficlive.com www.itsamericalive.com

Editor Adam Hill Email: ahill@ropl.com Tel: +44 1322 612062

Office Manager Kelly Thompson Email: kthompson@ropl.com

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wo events loom large on the intelligent transportation horizon: Intertraffic Amsterdam and ITS America Conference & Expo, both in April. ITS International is proud to be official publisher for both events and will produce the Daily News in Amsterdam and in Phoenix, Arizona.

We hope to see you there: Traffic nerds assemble!

By the way, this isn’t an insult – this is a rallying cry for the ITS industry.

Not all superheroes wear capes – although actually they do in our new promotional campaign, which reclaims the word ‘nerd’ and celebrates our pride in the sector.

Transportation is seen as – shall we say – a niche technical arena populated by engineers and eggheads. That’s probably why we love it: serious minds produce the life-saving technologies that have a positive effect on road safety. You don’t get to excellence without being enthusiastic and knowledgeable and, maybe, even a tiny bit obsessive about your subject. Attention to

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NEWS DIGEST

Dublin unveils lowtraffic city centre plan Authorities in Dublin have released plans for reducing traffic - with one of its main points being a ban on cars travelling through the city centre area "while still balancing the necessary access for deliveries". Dublin City Council, in partnership with the National Transport Authority, developed the draft Dublin City Centre Transport Plan 2023, and envisages a city centre "not dominated by traffic". This could open up new opportunities in the Irish capital, with a greater emphasis on "fast and reliable" public transport.

San Francisco to introduce speed cameras in 2025 San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is to install automated speed enforcement cameras at 33 locations on city-owned streets following an analysis of speeding hotspots. They will be distributed along San Francisco’s High Injury Network, the 12% of streets that account for 68% of the city’s serious and fatal roadway injuries. They will enforce lower speeds outside eight school sites, 12 parks, 11 social service sites serving seniors and people with disabilities and 12 neighbourhood commercial districts where many people walk or bike.

$3.9m Tennessee Weigh in Motion deal for IRD International Road Dynamics has been awarded a $3.9 million contract by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to install Weigh in Motion (WiM) systems at 28 sites on interstate and state routes across Tennessee, US. IRD, a subsidiary of Quarterhill, expects to complete the installation - its first in the state - in May 2025. The state-wide WiM programme will capture and record axle weights and gross vehicle weights as well as data on commercial vehicle characteristics in certain transit corridors for asset management and design improvements.

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Peru highway speeds incident detection time with Valerann Peru’s Lima Expresa, a Vinci concession, says it has reduced the time it takes to detect incidents on its highways following the introduction last year of Lanternn by Valerann.

The 25km road carries 180,000 vehicles per day, connecting the centre of Peru's capital Lima with the port and airport.

Speaking on a webinar hosted by IBTTA, Francisco Chenguayen, general manager of Lima Expresa, explained that average incident detection time was 12 minutes, prior to the deployment of Lanternn. Now the average is five minutes, he confirmed.

Traffic Technology Services snapped up

by Miovision

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Medianets Lab, part of Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary, is developing a traffic congestion forecast and control system that will use artificial intelligence to control traffic lights. The threeyear project, called Multi-Input Deep Learning for Congestion Prediction and Traffic Light Control – Tralico - is being developed with the Istanbul IT and Smart City Technologies company in Turkey and the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan. A key objective is to run the solution in real traffic conditions in Istanbul.

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AI traffic project developed in Hungary, Turkey and Japan

Miovision has bought Vehicle to Everything technology provider Traffic Technology Services.

TTS provides the connection to traffic infrastructure that powers solutions such as the in-car product Audi Traffic Light Information, which helps drivers identify optimum speeds to avoid red lights and reduce fuel consumption. The patented technology is the only real-time 'situational awareness' service directly available to drivers through the vehicle’s instrument panel, says Miovision. TTS has agreements with 180 agencies, providing insights from 80,000 signalised intersections.

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Q-Free's tolling systems for its Harbour Crossing Tolling contract in Sydney, Australia, have gone live. The deal has seen Q-Free provide the design, supply and installation of tolling roadside systems for the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel. The solution encompasses detection, classification and charging.

The crossings unite Sydney's business district and the North Shore, serving over 40 million vehicle crossings annually for drivers, commuters, cyclists and pedestrians. Around 150,000 vehicles cross each day, making it one of the busiest roads in Australia, Q-Free says.

California's Ventura County Transportation Commission has awarded a three-year, $1 million contract to Iteris for use of its ClearGuide solution - part of the ClearMobility platform.

The product is designed to help improve real-time operations, incident management, workzone mobility and transportation planning with traffic data and map content powered by Here Technologies.

Iteris says the software will be available to all cities and other agencies throughout the county, where it will also provide traffic volume estimates for freeways and arterial roads.

Aimsun & Yunex deliver digital twin for Tees Valley The Tees Valley Combined Authority in the UK has selected Yunex Traffic and Aimsun to provide a digital twin to help with traffic management.

It will deliver a range of benefits including automated incident detection and alerts, supporting network-wide traffic management for the region, improving bus service reliability and reducing delays, congestion and emissions. It uses data from Yunex’s existing Stratos and UTC-UX traffic management systems, integrated with the Aimsun Live predictive decision support system, and will allow traffic management actions to be implemented either automatically or by a traffic operator.

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The 20mph default speed limit in built-up areas of Wales, introduced in September last year, has led to a fall in drivers' speed, according to Transport for Wales. Data over the first three months shows 'weighted mean' speeds (that is, average speeds when differences for traffic volumes are taken into account) on a sample of main restricted roads dropped by an average of 4mph: 24.8mph instead of 28.9mph. While there has been opposition to the limit, the authority says it expected this behaviour change from drivers.

Serbia to upgrade ITS on state road 23 Serbia’s state highways agency - JP Putevi Srbije - has launched a project to integrate modern ITS technical solutions along one of its major highways.

State road 23, from Čačak via Zlatibor - commonly known as the Zlatibor Highway - is a 1B-class road in central and western Serbia, connecting Pojate with Gostun on the border with Montenegro.

Upgrades include variable message signs and better meteorological road stations to alert drivers of changeable weather, with sensors for measuring visibility distances, wind speed and road surface conditions.

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Welsh default 20mph limit leads to 4mph speed drop

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Iteris wins $1m California traffic SaaS contract

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Q-Free tolls go live on Sydney Harbour Bridge

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NEWS DIGEST

Green light in US for C-V2X intersection tech Cellular Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) technology has seen its first use on US public roads to request a green light for passenger vehicles. The 'detector call' application was developed by Applied Information for the Texas Department of Transportation. It was demonstrated using the TravelSafely smartphone app, an Audi e-tron Sportback equipped with a C-V2X Direct on-board unit programmed to ask for the green light, and a cellular network-connected Ram pick-up truck using Haas Alert’s Safety Cloud technology, which then delivered the location data to Applied’s cloud platform.

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CONTRACT & DEALS

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Hayden AI and Lyt agree mobility cooperation

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Société de transport de Montréal has awarded Thales a train control contract to modernise one of Montreal Métro's four lines - the Blue Line - with a five-year maintenance period. The city in Quebec has a 71km metro network, which is the second busiest rapid transit network in Canada and the fourth busiest in North America. The communications-based train control (CBTC) work is designed to improve service punctuality and reliability, with Thales’ SelTrac signalling solution replacing the existing system - the first CBTC system to be deployed across the Montreal Métro network.

Fairtiq is to provide a digital ticketing solution for multimodal public transport in the Czech Republic's Zlín Region. Public transport authority Koved chose the Swiss technology company to develop an advanced mobile PAYG (pay-as-you-go) solution that will be launched later this year.

Fairtiq’s app will enable riders to use buses, trolleybuses and trains throughout the region seamlessly. Before boarding, passengers check in by swiping the app on their smartphone; when they get off, they swipe again to end the cost calculation.

One.network is to pilot and deploy its Live Link workzone safety module and Network Monitor, its traffic management solution, in the city of Altamonte Springs, Florida. One.network, recently acquired by Causeway Technologies, has a three-year deal with the city, north of Orlando. Live Link will allow road construction, utility and event contractors working in the city to notify GPS mapping providers about road disruptions directly from the roadside via an app - for instance, letting drivers know whether workzones are active, have detours or require speed changes. © Javier Cruz Acosta | Dreamstime.com

Fairtiq offers PAYG ticketing in Czech Republic

Thales signals Montreal Métro modernisation

Hayden AI and Lyt have agreed to jointly develop urban mobility solutions. The companies seek to combine the real-time data and location-accuracy applications of Hayden AI’s bus-mounted vision AI platform – an automated bus lane and bus stop enforcement platform installed on hundreds of transit buses in the US – with Lyt’s transit signal priority system. Lyt.transit uses cloud technology powered by AI and edge processing to successfully time traffic signals so that transit buses regularly receive green lights at intersections.

© Fairtiq

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Three-year Florida pilot for One.network

A yes for NoTraffic NoTraffic has received approval from Florida Department of Transportation to deploy its traffic management solutions across agencies in the Sunshine State. The company said the approval will also showcase NoTraffic as a viable choice for other states seeking innovative mobility solutions. Its Software as a Service platform offers a mobility store which provides one-stop-shop access to multiple applications for enhanced safety, data analysis, efficiency and detection. On one single, unified platform, NoTraffic allows transportation departments and other stakeholders to introduce and manage customised mobility services.

Optibus reschedules Brazil's rainforest metropolis The Union of Passenger Transport Companies of the State of Amazonas (Sinetram) in Manaus, Brazil, has chosen Optibus' transportation management platform for the planning and optimisation of the city’s 1,000 buses run by seven companies, with 2.7 million annual passenger journeys and 278 routes.

Sinetram will use Optibus’ route planning, crew and vehicle scheduling, and timetable optimisation products to create more efficient schedules and bus driver shifts, and gain visibility into their operation.

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INTERVIEW

“WE’RE ON THE PRECIPICE OF POTENTIALLY INCREDIBLE CHANGE” Laura Chace, president & CEO of ITS America, talks to Adam Hill about knowledge gaps, Phoenix, the pace of change, digitalisation, AI - and the importance of authenticity…

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AI is not going to solve every problem; however, it is very good at solving many problems

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hen ITS America president & CEO Laura Chace speaks to ITS International, it is just a few days after the organisation’s latest board meeting. As well as the vital issues of engaging existing members, and bringing new members into the fold, they talked about a lot of weighty issues.

“Everything from connected transportation ecosystem to artificial intelligence, to digital infrastructure, to issues of security and privacy,” Chace says with enthusiasm.

“There’s a lot of really complicated but important issues. We had really good discussions.”

There are three main areas of focus for ITS America this year: first up is Vehicle to Everything (V2X) roll-out. “As you well know, connected transportation – V2X - is absolutely mission-critical to us,” she says. “We are working with USDoT to get a final plan on interoperable connectivity that hopefully will be released this spring, so that is a critical milestone.”

This process is well advanced, and moving into its final stages. The second critical issue on the radar is developing policy for the next transportation reauthorisation in the US to put technology on par with physical infrastructure.

“Digital infrastructure authorisation policy funding for technology that is not just discretionary and baked into competitive grants,” Chace says. “How do we start to actually look at the tools we have and ensure that we are structuring them in a way that is going to allow for technology deployment? That’s one big issue encompassed in our digital infrastructure work.”

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INTERVIEW V2X roll-out remains a top priority for ITS America

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In this industry we have a challenge with making these technologies and solutions accessible and understandable to regular people

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There’s another aspect to this. “While there’s a lot of movement on different individual use cases, for showing how digital infrastructure can save lives, increase the efficiency of our system, increase sustainability and equity, all of those things what’s missing is a unifying vision,” she explains.

How do you use it to improve the operations of your systems?

And what are the considerations and risks that you have to be aware of when you’re using an AI solution? We don’t want people to over-rely on it - and we don’t want people to be afraid to use it.

We want them to take a really educated approach to AI.”

Digital infrastructure “So that’s an area where we’re working with our federal partners and with our members and the broader community to really come together and say: ‘What is that vision and framework for advancing digital infrastructure that will provide a guide for the whole industry’, so that people on both the public and the private sector side will have more certainty to make these digital investments for the future.”

And the third area of focus for ITS America is artificial intelligence. “AI is not new, it’s been a part of transportation for some time,” Chace points out. “But the speed at which the technology and the solutions are advancing is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the past, and so there is this proliferation of new tools and new solutions everyone is really trying to get their head around.”

This means there is a need to develop AI governance policies: “What are some of the risk considerations? How do I take a balanced approach to this and keep a human-centric lens on my use of artificial intelligence?”

For this reason, ITS America has a new working group developing AI policy principles and guidelines. “There’s a lot of confusing terminology and I think there’s an opportunity for ITS America to help provide some clarity to the transportation industry on the different terms,” Chace explains. “And we’re also going to create some use case examples to show how AI can be used to advance our goal of safer, greener, smarter mobility for all.”

There is a lot of hyperbole around AI – which is all the more reason to have a calm voice providing a practical overview of what’s possible. “The approach that we’re taking is: AI is not going to solve every problem,” Chace says. “However, it is very good at solving many problems. So understanding the limits of what it can do, understanding transparency in these AI systems, understanding what data it is using - because it’s only as good as the inputs it’s receiving - we’re really trying to take some of the hype out of these conversations and target it more towards real applications that are useful.”

In transportation, there are quite a few of these, she suggests.

“How do you use it to augment and help your workforce now?

Artificial intelligence Chace is on the AI working group of the Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee (TTAC), which was recently set up to offer advice to USDoT and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg about plans and approaches for transportation innovation.

It includes a number of ITS America members, with experts from academia, think tanks, the public sector and industry covering topics including automation, cybersecurity, safety, accessibility, law, government, entrepreneurship, privacy and equity.

“The industry is going to keep moving forward and I’m hopeful that TTAC will come up with some helpful recommendations, in a timely fashion, that will be relevant,” Chace says. “But the pace of technology doesn’t stop. It always depends on how quickly you can get recommendations through a very large, diverse group. So the speed of it will remain to be seen - but I think we have a good cross-sectoral representation to provide some good inputs and recommendations.”

Chace has been in her current role for nearly three years.

Before that she was chief operating officer at ITS America. “The biggest change for me personally was going from being the one who was responsible for making everything happen to being at that CEO level where my role is to set the strategy and guide everybody - but other people are implementing.”

It’s quite a leap and one she says took time to get used to.

Meanwhile, shifts in the ITS sector itself – even in that short time – have been significant too. “When you start to look at the amount of real-time data that’s now available in transportation,” she begins, “it’s really hard to harness from phones and from sensors and from all this different equipment because we don’t really have that digital infrastructure in a standardised way. I think we’re on the precipice of potentially incredible change and transformation if we can get this right: you’ve got all this digital infrastructure investment; you’ve got all these AI-based tools coming online; we have to grapple as an industry with issues of data privacy. And those are things that have become much more top of mind in the past 12 months than they were when I took on this role in August 2021.”

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With this pace of technological change in mind, an online training programme - the ITS America Academy - will be launched towards the end of this year, beginning with a single course on how to use transportation data. “We’re going to crawl, walk, run,” Chace smiles. “We’re going to start small and our goal over time is to create a suite of courses. What we’ve realised is that there is a role that ITS America can and should play in terms of education and workforce development with regard to some of these emerging technology tools.”

ITS America thinks it has identified a knowledge gap in the industry. “There’s a lot of really good technical, very in-depth, documents and resources for ITS professionals,” Chace suggests.

“There might even be some basic introductory resources. But there’s not a lot in that middle.”

Practical resources So while maintaining its traditional focus on policy, the organisation will also branch out into creating “more practical resources for deployers” in areas such as V2X, digital infrastructure, AI and transportation integration. The ITS industry is relatively small, so scaling ITS technologies requires buy-in from the broader transportation industry who are interested in the technology – but for whom it is not exactly their day job.

She explains: “There are practitioners who don’t really understand: ‘What is V2X, how does it work and how does it benefit me? How do I actually integrate these solutions into my systems? What do I need to be thinking about? Who do I partner with?’ All of these next-level conversations.”

Chace sets great store by the power of conversations. As a highly-visible transportation leader, she is comfortable sharing both professional and personal thoughts on social media, particularly LinkedIn. She often brings something of herself to

What to see at ITS America 2024 in Phoenix Asking Laura Chace, president & CEO of ITS America, to name the sessions she is particularly looking forward to at the organisation’s Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, on 2225 April is clearly unfair. But it’s worth a try. “Well, of course I’m looking forward to the entire event, right?” she laughs.

“I always say this, but it’s true. The thing I love most about our conferences, really, is that time to bring the broader industry together in one space. I’m really excited.”

When pushed, she points to two keynotes with highpowered panels. Rethinking Infrastructure in the New Digital Era will see her speaking with Brian Cronin, head of USDoT’s ITS Joint Program Office as well as panelists including Selika Talbott, CEO of Autonomous Vehicle Consulting, Miovision boss Kurtis McBride and Seleta Reynolds, chief innovation officer of LA Metro. The second looks at emerging solutions: Artificial Intelligence – Unlocking the Next Frontier in Transportation includes luminaries such as Veronica Vanterpool, acting administrator of the Federal Transit Administration and Robert C. Hampshire, chief science officer at USDoT. “I think they’ll be thought-provoking, ones you won’t want to miss,” Chace says. “And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t call out the party for Atlanta that we’re doing on Wednesday night. That will be a fun event to get everybody ready for the ITS World Congress in Atlanta in August 2025. But I’m just excited to actually walk the exhibit floor and see some of the new solutions that people are bringing to Phoenix.”

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“Digital infrastructure can save lives, increase the efficiency of our system, increase sustainability and equity, all of those things - what’s missing is a unifying vision”

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INTERVIEW

her posts there - for example, by mentioning her children in the context of wanting to see safer roads, or on the issue of girls achieving their academic potential – as well as talking about more obvious ‘business’ subjects.

“It is my natural style,” she says. “It is something I’ve done deliberately but at first I did it very sparingly because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be taken seriously, that people would think I didn’t know what I was talking about. But I did it a few times, and I got really good feedback. And then I remember having a conversation with my communications director at the time, and some other people, and they said: ‘You’re most authentic when you’re talking about your personal views and how it impacts your personal life’. And I think in this industry we also have a challenge with making these technologies and solutions accessible and understandable to regular people. Almost by definition, you don’t see ITS technology, right? I mean, yes, you can see a sensor or a camera – but it’s not like when they resurface a street and it’s very smooth or you can see when they put a bike lane in. People don’t see ITS technologies very often, if at all.”

Authentic self Chace has spoken before about ITS “providing real outcomes for real people” and this is partly why she brings her personality to her posts. “We have to figure out a way to relate them to people so they understand: yes, this is actually making your journey safer, or yes, this is actually helping you get home on time,” she insists. “So that’s really why I did it. Because when I talk to people outside of this industry, that’s how I talk to them: I explain it to them in ways that they can understand, and it resonates so I wanted to bring that forward.”

There is another reason. “And also, it is my authentic self,” she laughs. “So it feels more natural.”

Her reticence to reveal this in the first place will be familiar to many women in the transportation industry. “It’s probably ‘impostor syndrome’, that many, many women and some men have,” she says. “I’m not a transportation engineer yet I’m running this organisation that speaks essentially to transportation engineers across the country. And so it was my own self-doubt that led me to hold back a little at first.”

That doesn’t seem to be an issue now. “No!” she says firmly.

“Really and truly now I think that’s what we need. We need to be talking to people: consumer acceptance of these technologies is a real challenge for the industry.”

Moving forward, the ITS industry must try to engage with people to understand these technologies and want to use them.

“So now” – she laughs again – “I feel much more emboldened.

Because we need that mix of both technical expertise on the issues, but we also need that ability to communicate this and make it understandable to a very broad array of users of the system.” ITS www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

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SAFETY Fox deployment in Canada

Hard data supports traffic monitoring A collaboration between AGD Systems and North Line Canada has demonstrated the value of traffic experts putting their heads together to improve pedestrian safety

I

n recent years, the issue of speeding, high traffic volumes and aggressive drivers in communities and school zones has become a growing concern in Canada. Unlawful driving puts pedestrians at risk, as well as installers deploying technology to monitor and enforce safer road usage.

To address this problem and prioritise safety for all, gathering data on speeding violations and road usage has emerged as a valuable tool.

AGD Systems, designer and manufacturer of urban traffic and pedestrian control products, and North Line Canada, provider of traffic, data and asset management solutions, have taken a proactive approach to traffic management.

The firms see benefits in their collaborative solution, designed to enhance safety levels in key zones across North America.

The value of data Like many other locations globally, community safety programmes in Canada encompass a wide range of initiatives www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

and strategies to promote safety, crime prevention and wellbeing within local communities. These initiatives often involve collaboration between various stakeholders, including law enforcement, community organisations, local businesses, schools and residents.

When an initial complaint has been made to the authorities, while colloquial feedback from ‘eyes on the ground’ is essential, undertaking an unbiased traffic study is vital before any formal action can be taken.

To enhance safety levels in these locations, it is necessary first to gather and analyse the data to understand the scale of the problem. Traffic studies can highlight issues at given periods of the day or support the case for enforcement or other traffic management measures.

Supported by data, authorities have the hard evidence they need to analyse traffic flow effectively, identify problematic areas and behaviours, and develop strategies to manage traffic better, enhancing road safety and efficiency.

In Canada, depending on the situation, strategic changes may begin with educational

initiatives to raise awareness about the dangers of speeding and promote responsible driving behaviour, or fundamental changes to the site may be required - such as adjusting speed limits, installing traffic calming measures or optimising signal timings.

This targeted monitoring also feeds into the average annual daily traffic (AADT) counts, which must be carried out four times a year on roads of a particular classification in Canada and the US. This important metric is used to understand traffic patterns, identify congestion points and forecast future traffic volumes to support efficient and safe transportation system updates and management.

“Regarding communities and school zones, where there is an elevated risk to pedestrians, traffic studies usually occur over seven to 10 days, look at issues such as speeding violations, and feed into AADT data,” explains Jim Sheehan, director of sales, research & development at North Line Canada. “Aside from accessing data to back up the need for immediate action to improve safety, there is also a strong requirement for data to use in the future. Our customers © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

15

SAFETY

“

Our customers see power in hard data and request it as a way of future-proofing systems

“

Jim Sheehan Northline Canada

A collaborative solution With the notion of ‘data is power’ in mind, North Line worked with AGD to integrate a specialist radar, the 331, into the Fox product solution. The result is an all-in-one solution for authorities who need to gather detailed dynamics about road usage and daily and AADT. The Fox captures vehicle data and reports on volume, speed and direction of travel, with multi-lane detection, all with a date and time stamp per event. The radar is combined with a processor and on-board modem, which allows data to be accessed remotely through North Line's proprietary reporting software.

© Oasisamuel | Dreamstime.com

see power in hard data and request it as a way of future-proofing systems. It may be that planned investment or advancements in technology will allow them to use the data at a later point. This means solutions need to consider society's future traffic management and enforcement needs and develop technologies ahead of their time.”

The smartphone app software will enable users to view real-time data or create more detailed reports. This granular data allows for 85th-percentile calculations, speed reporting

and AADT compliance reporting, all while being simple to use and quick to deploy by the end user.

Crucially, the non-intrusive device can be

North Line worked with AGD to integrate a specialist radar, the 331, into the Fox product solution

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© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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SAFETY

On-the-ground feedback The Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is presently utilising four Fox radar systems supplied by North Line Canada. “These units have been critical to our operations on several fronts,” explains Corporal John Stables of Surrey RCMP Traffic Services. “They assist with data collection which allows us to liaise with City officials to implement traffic calming measures, such as speed humps, speed reader boards and roundabouts.”

The radars have also enabled www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

AGD’s 331 radar passed Nema testing, ensuring suitability for use in specific applications and environments

“

The 331 radar was designed to offer a direct physical retrofit capability for those wishing to build additional functionalities into the solution

“

deployed either in a temporary or permanent location off to the side of the roadway, away from live traffic, keeping installers safe from high-speed vehicles or aggressive road users. Another key consideration to further enhance safety is reliability and reassurance that the solution is rugged enough to withstand the harsh Canadian winters. AGD had already put its 331 radar through US National Electrical Manufacturers Association (Nema) testing, which involves subjecting electrical equipment to a series of rigorous tests under controlled conditions to assess its suitability for use in specific applications and environments.

“The 331 radar was designed to offer a direct physical retrofit capability for those wishing to build additional functionalities into the solution, and this ease of integration has enabled North Line to create a bespoke detection platform,” says Dean Jarvis, commercial engineer at AGD. “Operating in the 24GHz K-band, the 331 offers accurate speed and range measurement while discriminating between advancing and receding traffic; these features make the radar ideal for use in communities and school zones, where pedestrians face heightened risks.”

Originally intended for speed awareness signs, the 331's versatility positioned it as the optimal selection for integration into the Fox system.

“Its initial design for compatibility with other products resulted in a compact form factor, allowing us to ship more units internationally with reduced packaging and yielding environmental benefits,” Jarvis continues. “Additionally, the minimal waste generated from disassembly and reintegration into the Fox product further emphasises its efficiency and eco-friendly attributes.”

North Line’s Sheehan adds: “We needed the ability to install the system anywhere, so it had to be standalone. The low-power draw of the 331 radar meant that we could achieve a sufficient run-time rate to perform a study over seven or more days.

AGD also worked with us to develop a low-speed version of the 331 so we could use it for specific applications, further proving the importance of collaboration and manufacturers’ agility.”

Dean Jarvis AGD

Stables’ unit to carry out intelligence-led enforcement. “These advancements mean that we have been able obtain intelligence, deploy our units to specific areas, and have been able to instruct officers as to what day and what time to be in that area for enforcement action,” he adds.

“This intelligence-led approach has allowed us to deploy our officers to where they are needed, when they are needed.

Importantly, we can now rule out areas that the officers are not needed, ensuring resources are used in an effective way.”

In a community setting, Christine Kinahan, engineering technician at The Corporation of the Town of Lincoln, explains why Fox has emerged as the initial course of action. “The Fox radar units have allowed us to identify problem areas with

qualified and quantified data pertaining to speed and traffic volumes and to target specific times of day when issues are clearly present,” she says. “These are our first line of action when a resident or council complaint is received and have provided exceptionally valuable and complete data in all weather and both urban and rural locations.”

In summary, temporary detection systems serve an instrumental role in data collection, enabling intelligenceled enforcement and targeted traffic management initiatives, leading to improved road and community safety. ITS • For more information visit www.agd-systems.com www.northlinecanada.com © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

17

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North AmericaEdition © Jacksonville Transportation Authority

RESEARCH

JTA is the regional multimodal transportation authority for Northeast Florida

Picking it up as we go: how transportation agencies can learn from university research JTA Research Lab has been created to identify critical transportation policy questions, and get academics to help solve them. Pencils sharpened? Nathaniel P. Ford explains…

A

transportation agency should always be learning. That simple but powerful idea underpins the new Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) Research Lab, an innovative model for collaboration between transportation agencies and academia. For the first time JTA, the regional multimodal transportation authority for Northeast Florida, is inviting researchers to examine the authority's most pressing policy questions and share what they learn with transportation experts and professionals worldwide. www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

This region includes Duval County, which has a population of around 1.7 million (the 40th largest metro area in the US and the fourth biggest in Florida) and a total area of 874.3 square miles (2,264 km2), making Jacksonville the largest city in land area in the contiguous US. Built as a state agency and an independent special district, JTA designs and constructs bridges and highways and provides varied mass transportation services. These services include fixed route and bus rapid transit service, paratransit services (Connexion), a

downtown, automated, elevated people mover known as the Skyway, the St. Johns River Ferry, the Gameday Xpress, as well as other on-demand and regional services to Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties.

The JTA Research Lab grew out of Move2027, a five-year strategic plan adopted by the JTA board in 2022.

Move2027 includes dozens of initiatives, many of which are novel - not just in Jacksonville, but in the US. For instance, JTA is now committed to adopting a universal basic mobility programme and utilising artificial intelligence to improve © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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RESEARCH North AmericaEdition customer service, and both emerging and evolving mobility strategies.

ABOVE: Bikes and bus: multimodal transport BELOW: Acosta Bridge

Pictures: © Jacksonville Transportation Authority

VANTAGERADIUS_ITS Int.pdf 1 2/28/2024 5:02:25 PM

Unique and innovative With any new programme, JTA builds upon the lessons learned from those who have previously sought to do something similar, searching for design elements that we should emulate - and those which are best avoided. A challenge for JTA was that many of Move2027's tactics are unique and innovative, and therefore few case studies are available to inform our planning.

Academic research, while helpful, provided few real-world case studies from which to find guidance. Rather than plunge ahead and risk missteps in the implementation of Move2027, I instead opted for JTA to learn as we went: a careful, interactive process that would draw upon lessons learned from early deployments and incorporate them into subsequent ones. Better yet, we could share those lessons with other transportation systems around the country – and even globally – helping to advance an industry that faces severe headwinds as it strives to recover from ridership declines during the Covid pandemic and funding challenges.

Those goals led to the formation of the JTA Research Lab, which my team developed through months of discussions with transportation academics.

Here is how it will work: each year, JTA

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RESEARCH

© Jacksonville Transportation Authority

cost of a monthly pass. With capping, the transportation agency monitors how much a rider has spent on individual trips in a given period and stops charging them once they reach the cost of an unlimited pass (i.e. if a monthly pass is $40 and a ride is $2, only the first twenty trips would be charged in a single month – all subsequent ones would be free).

Move2027 calls for JTA to implement cash fare capping in the coming months (a few other transportation agencies, like New York City's MTA and Portland's TriMet, have already done so). Although some research on cash fare capping exists, including a study by the National Academies, JTA could not answer several pivotal questions: Which kinds of riders benefit most from cash fare capping, and who benefits least? Are its equity benefits limited by the requirement that riders pay with mobile ticketing? What is the impact on farebox revenue? These are among the topics that the JTA Research Lab will explore. We will also encourage the researchers to disseminate their lessons broadly through peer-reviewed papers.

The second RFP concerns JTA's Bus Stops of the Future programme, a Move2027 tactic that involves overhauling 111 bus stops in north-west Jacksonville.

Over the next several years, JTA will upgrade the bus stops to enhance safety, increase customer satisfaction, and attract

The Connexion paratransit service

will identify a small number of critical policy questions that we cannot adequately answer through academic findings or the experiences of other transportation agencies. We will then create and disseminate a Request for Proposal (RFP) targeted toward academic institutions, describing the issue and explaining what JTA would like to learn. Because high-quality research takes more time than consulting engagements, each JTA Research

North AmericaEdition

Lab initiative will be funded for at least a year (sometimes longer).

Fare capping and future bus stops The JTA team ultimately selected the first two topics to be investigated through the JTA Research Lab. The first was cash fare capping, a policy designed to ensure that regular transportation riders do not “overpay” because they cannot afford the upfront

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RESEARCH North AmericaEdition

LEFT: Moving people to big events is a major undertaking RIGHT: Bus services – including bus rapid transit – are a key part of Move2027

Pictures: © Jacksonville Transportation Authority

new riders. Added amenities will include crosswalks, bus shelters, sidewalk expansions, and real-time bus information, among other interventions.

Evolving needs The JTA Research Lab will collaborate with academics to measure and analyse the value of these bus stop amenities. Questions to be considered include: To what extent do the upgrades appeal to riders or enhance safety?

Which amenities are particularly valuable and cost-efficient? In what ways do passengers adjust their trip plans after the upgrades

are complete? Since implementation of Bus Stops of the Future will continue throughout the MobilityWorks 2.0 Program, JTA will incorporate lessons from the research into subsequent upgrades (and also share those lessons with peer agencies). Again, we will encourage the researchers to publish their findings in academic journals.

In future years, JTA plans to launch many more research projects that will be determined by the authority's evolving needs.

I should note that JTA is far from the first transportation system to join forces with academia; partnerships between an

agency and a university are widespread.

However, we believe that the JTA Research Lab breaks new ground as a collaboration invitation for all academics. Rather than establishing a single university relationship intended to fulfill all research needs, the JTA Research Lab capitalises on the unique strengths of various university transportation departments.

My team and I are well aware that success is not assured in any innovative venture, and the JTA Research Lab is the same. Time will tell if its model of open collaboration between transportation and academia achieves our vision, both in Northeast Florida and beyond. But if it succeeds, we believe it could powerfully improve transportation services and spur more practical transportation research. ITS

About the Jacksonville Transportation Authority

“

We believe that the JTA Research Lab breaks new ground as a collaboration invitation for all academics

“

Nat Ford, CEO of Jacksonville Transportation Authority

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© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is a state agency and an independent special district serving Jacksonville, Florida, and Northeast Florida with multimodal responsibilities. The JTA provides varied mass public transit services and builds roads, bridges, and other infrastructure to enhance mobility. Public transportation services include bus rapid transit and regular bus service, paratransit, the St. Johns River Ferry, Skyway APM, and other mobility and on-demand services in Duval, Clay, Baker, Nassau, and St. Johns counties. To learn more, visit www.jtafla.com

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HARDWARE STANDARDS North AmericaEdition

Standard approach National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s revision of standards relating to variable message signs will help to improve interoperability and reflect changes in vehicle technology

V

ariable message signs (VMS) have a vital role to play on highways worldwide, alerting drivers in near real-time to events and incidents.

Readability is crucial so flickering is a hazard – it’s important that you can quickly and easily absorb the information you are being shown without the graphics dancing in front of your eyes. And as intelligent transportation technology, such as Vehicle to Everything (V2X), moves on, it is vital that roadway hardware keeps pace.

This is where the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (Nema) comes in.

Nema is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited standards developing organisation, made up of business leaders, electrical experts, engineers, scientists and technicians, which brings together a neutral forum of members to discuss industry-wide concerns and objectives under a legal umbrella.

It has released its latest revision of Nema TS 4-2023 hardware standards for VMS and dynamic message signs (DMS) with NTCIP (National Transportation Communication for ITS Protocol) requirements. NTCIP allows interoperability among various manufacturers of ITS products such as DMS, cameras, signals and communication methods.

“The updated standard aligns and harmonises with other national regulatory standards,” says Jason Morrison, national chair of the Nema TS 4 committee and Daktronics market manager for ITS, parking & public transport.

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© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

The latest revision updates language to align with industry standards for connected vehicles and provides solutions to problems such as flickering, to promote safer roadways and reduce accidents.

“These updates include definitions for VMS and DMS along with guidance on their use when implementing MUTCD [Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices]-compliant symbols and graphics,” Morrison continues. “Other safety and technology issues defined include FCC [Federal Communications Commission] radio interference requirements to ensure uninterrupted service for emergency and mobile phone service, additionally defining minimum display refresh rate requirements for V2X technology.”

The signs can emit no radio interference, which means emergency and mobile phone services will not have any interrupted service when near a DMS. The LED refresh rate must also be greater than 200 Hz to reduce refresh or flicker rate, which means autonomous vehicle technology can read all the information on digital signs.

As V2X roll-out and increased levels of autonomy become a reality, this is a timely change. In a blog post, Morrison explained the history of the standards themselves.

“It all started in the early 1990s when many different DMS technologies were being installed,” he wrote. “There were no set specification standards, and the industry couldn’t agree on how to define a DMS. So, in 1997, DMS manufacturers came together to form the TS 4 technical

committee. In 2005, we published the first National Standard for DMS, and then we released an updated version in 2016.”

The latest iteration is important. “VMS and DMS described in Nema TS 4-2023 provide real-time, traffic-related messages.

This includes alerts and advisories, early warning messages, alternate route information, travel times and workzone information. They can also assist in disaster recovery efforts and emergency preparedness activities,” adds Steve Griffith, Nema’s executive director of transportation systems.

Given the recent prevalence of extreme weather events such as floods and wildfires, there is a clear safety angle – and for the transport community, this is a welcome update. "Nema TS-4 and the MUTCD are more aligned than ever with this newest revision to TS-4,” says veteran transportation engineer Ransford S. McCourt. “As both documents evolve, the ever-changing discipline of changeable message signs advances toward greater consistency and uniformity in design and construction.”

This can only be a good thing. For its part, Nema believes that standards “play a vital part in the design, production, and distribution of products destined for both national and international commerce”.

They help both user and manufacturer “by improving safety, bringing about economies in product, eliminating misunderstandings between manufacturer and purchaser, and assisting the purchaser in selecting and obtaining the proper product for his or her particular need”. ITS www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

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URBAN TRAFFIC CONTROL

© Transport for London

London has 65,000-plus roads and 20,000 transport incidents each year

No jam tomorrow Every year, Transport for London helps make billions of road journeys congestion-free - but could it do better? Digital twin and graph technology are starting to make London less congested and greener, says database expert Aaron Holt

www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

There is a serious cost to road inefficiency, which Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (who has ultimate responsibility for transport in the capital) is acutely aware of. It is estimated that congestion costs London £5.1 billion per year in lost productivity. Per driver, says TomTom, that equates to at least £1,211 a year. But the negative consequences of jammed-up streets go way beyond that. There’s also huge stress and inconvenience for road users, pedestrians, and residents.

“

Breaking a traffic jam within seconds rather than minutes would save the city and drivers huge amounts of time

“

T

ransport for London (TfL) is the integrated transport authority responsible for transport in London, UK. It’s the body in charge of the day-to-day operation of London’s public transport network - and of all of London's busy main roads.

That’s no easy job. TfL data suggests that on an average day, London residents make 4.6m car driver trips and 1.4m car passenger trips. If you add in the one million journeys non-residents make, then that is around five million journeys a day.

In fact, as much as we love the London’s metro system – the Tube - around one in eight of journeys in London actually take place on the road network, says TfL. That equates to over 3.7 billion trips per year, so there is a lot to manage and keep moving efficiently, says the organisation’s chief transport analyst Andy Emmonds.

Managing this network is a deeply complex, intricate challenge. In fact, monitoring it is a technical feat when you consider there are 65,000-plus roads. Reacting to incidents is even more of a challenge, but essential. London experiences 20,000 transport incidents yearly - and each minute left unaddressed means traffic jams build exponentially.

In response, TfL is on a mission to find ways to ensure that London’s nine million residents and 20 million annual visitors can travel safely and easily—moving London forward in a healthy, inclusive and sustainable way. The aim is to mitigate the environmental and health impact caused by slow-moving traffic, particularly the concerning levels of CO2 emissions. The immediate challenge was the prolonged time it took for TfL to detect incidents, ranging between 14 and

17 minutes. By the time interventions were in place, an average of 27 minutes had already been lost due to traffic build-up. Each minute saved in addressing incidents holds significant financial value, amounting to thousands of pounds.

Emmonds and his team believe they have identified a strategy to begin recovering those financial losses at long last.

A virtual reproduction The idea is to aggregate real-time data on all those roads and spot an incident not when it appears on CCTV in the TfL traffic control centre, but as it’s about to become a problem. This will address the issue before the situation escalates.

Emmonds highlights the significant advantages of such a capability: breaking a traffic jam within seconds rather than minutes would save the city and drivers huge amounts of time, as well as reduce the pollution created by stationary vehicles.

He has been exploring two advanced forms of computer simulation and modelling to address these challenges: a digital twin and graph technology. A digital twin is a virtual reproduction, with a high level of detail and real-time data feeds to mirror a real-world process. © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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URBAN TRAFFIC CONTROL In TfL’s case, the digital twin represents the actual transport network, in which different scenarios can be tested and evaluated.

Emmonds decided the best way to build his planned system was to work with a graph database.

The conceptual roots of the approach go back to a branch of mathematics, but the point of graph technology is the idea of a network. When we say network here, we're describing a method to depict various entities for storing information while also modelling the connections and relationships between them By design, graphs enable people to store and examine the connections between data points as data itself—much in the same way commuters think about the routes and connections in their daily travel. “We found that real-time data can only be solved by a graph database because a graph database is an agile and adaptive way to interpret granular data at scale,” Emmonds says.

He acknowledges that to fully leverage digital twin and graphs, his organisation's approach to utilising data had to be overhauled, emphasising the transformative role that data plays in realising the potential of such innovative technologies.

“For a long time, we took a totally reactive approach to data,” he says. A persistent historical challenge to using a digital solution to solve London’s congestion problem was the prevalence of low-quality and fragmented travel data. Many of the journeys TfL needs to track involve private and multimodal transportation (e.g. citizens or tourists may drive or cycle, then catch a train, then walk), making them hard to compile and track.

Before adopting the digital twin and graph approaches, TfL's strategy involved collecting separate data sets, limiting its ability to address the full spectrum of questions

the team wanted to explore. The challenge wasn't a lack of data—they were accumulating terabytes of data every week. However, due to the way this data was stored and analysed, meaningful conclusions couldn't be drawn based on the relationships within these datasets.

In addition, not having enough on-road sensors to gather fresh data, like cameras and telematics, often meant that TfL only received insight into traffic incidents once they had been visually spotted. Emmonds explains: “We were effectively using this disparate data through Excel sheets, and none of this data was aligned or real time.

What we needed was to be a real-time operator, and to do that we needed a digital twin.”

Real-world ‘connection’ The emphasis on tracking relationships is a key concept in this scenario. Emmonds is clear that graphs represent the most efficient, cost-effective, and performant way to uncover hidden relationships and patterns across billions of data connections to make the decisions needed to predict and handle traffic incidents.

In a graph representation, a road link becomes a 'node'—an element within the graph. It’s a route from A to B that also has many properties, providing a more intuitive and comprehensive way to capture and analyse the complexity of transportation data. Unlike the cumbersome spreadsheets that TfL previously used, a graph-based approach is tailor-made for this type of analysis, making it easier to understand and work with the intricate relationships and properties associated with each road link. “Trips and routing can only be efficiently managed through such a database,” Emmonds says.

“

Many of the journeys TfL needs to track involve private and multimodal transportation, making them hard to compile and track

© Panom Bounak | Dreamstime.com

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© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

Testing was imperative. Emmonds explains: “We set up a test product which was fed data powered by graphs that could tell us in near real-time if there was a problem on the road. And on the day of the test, the system detected five incidents that the control room didn’t pick up. For us, that was the proof in the pudding.”

Overall vision The TfL road traffic twin consists of five layers: 1. The first level of the model, where input data is aligned with the business challenge 2. the data is organised to solve the challenge 3. in the Neo4j platform, the data is set up so it mirrors the physical network it is modelling 4. the data is sent to TfL’s control room for interpretation 5. the data is used to solve different road problems.

TfL now connects and feeds its datasets into the digital twin, and the solution plays a crucial role in TfL’s overall vision of cutting congestion by 10%. If this ambitious goal is achieved, it would result in a productivity gain of £600m, equating to £1,211 in time per driver.

Using his new innovative technology stack, Emmonds also hopes to streamline peak traffic events, such as major football matches or music concerts. The goal is to enhance the planning and controlling of routes across the network driven by data.

In the medium term, TfL aims to leverage the solution to develop data-driven and effective emission-reduction strategies for London. Looking ahead, there are aspirations to use this technology as a basis for establishing an autonomous vehicle network.

Emmonds concludes: “The next step is making London’s roads autonomous and green.”

And as the great thing about a solution like this is that the architecture is open and agile, there’s “nothing stopping us” from using it to build and understand the metropolis of the future. ITS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Aaron Holt is enterprise account executive at graph database and analytics company Neo4j www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

DIGITAL TWINS

Twin peaks Simulation-based optimisation is the foundation for real-time predictive analytics when it comes to optimal traffic signal programming, explain Sunny Chakravarty of Econolite and Lorenzo Meschini of PTV Group

D

helped set the stage for the adoption of DT. By combining higher resolution and real-time traffic data available from new sensors, cloud-based analytics, with leading-edge simulation and modelling software technologies, DT technology - as a data-driven strategy - can be applicable for optimising traffic signal programming.

The intelligent transportation system (ITS) era ushered in the necessary information technology-based traffic management platform to establish data-driven traffic management.

This platform leverages data to help transportation agencies and engineers make more informed traffic operation decisions. As a result of more and more traffic data becoming available and driving new transportation management applications, there have been many approaches to enhancing traffic signal operations.

While applications such as adaptive

signal control have proven to incrementally reduce travel times and congestion along roadway segments or corridors, the traffic data resolution input and analytical capabilities have been a limiting factor in making larger efficiency gains. Until now, the industry has not experienced the coalescence of sensor, data taxonomy and analytics, distributed computing, and software technologies necessary to power real-time applications that actively optimise traffic signal control programming necessary to dynamically enhance mobility.

A foundation in data ASCT and SPM, combined with a pattern optimisation capacity, have proven to incrementally reduce average wait times and improve corridor travel time reliability.

For example, when traffic congestion reaches a pre-determined threshold, the adaptive signal control program is triggered to adjust the traffic signal timing manually or automatically to a pattern

© Cherezoff | Dreamstime.com

igital twin (DT) technology as a strategy has been widely adopted and applied to help optimise complex systems and operations in many industries, including enterprise networking, retail, healthcare, structural engineering, manufacturing, and production operations.

For transportation, Digital Twins in the Intelligent Transport Systems

by Andrey Rudskoy et al, describes DT as a detailed digital reproduction of the roadway, enabling modelling and to test solutions and simulate different scenarios and events.1 DT adoption as a strategic capability for surface transportation management has lagged behind other industries due to the limitations of data. This is especially true in applications for traffic signal control optimisation. Fortunately, the data structures and layers for signal performance measures (SPM) and adaptive signal control technologies (ASCT) applications have

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DIGITAL TWINS

Centracs user interfaces

Regional ITS systems

NTCIP/ TMDD C2C Interfaces

V2X User management interfaces

V2X User data interfaces

Other external users

Data Visualisation layer Administration Roadway management management interface interface

Alarm and alert management

Data visualisation applications

Data reporting services

Agency TMC

Proprietary cloud applications

Data access layer APIs Publication services

Data query services

Application hosting framework

Data analytics services

Access control services

Data storage services

Data integration layer Event generation services

Event taxonomy services

Roadway modeling services

Data quality layer Data integrity services

Data modeling services

Data normalisation services

Data fusion services

Health monitoring services

Edge compute platform hosting: Open-source - Data exchange - Digital twin Real-time applications

Data acquisition layer Device drivers

Signal data sources

Vehicle data sources

Georeferencing services

Trajectory data sources

Traffic data sources

Application data sources

NTCIP Field devices

Data taxonomy services

Road weather sources

Incident data sources

The ITS information and communication architecture helped to establish a platform of data

Digital twin as a strategy for traffic signal operations Digital twin technology has the potential to fundamentally transform traffic signal management and operations. The concept of creating a DT is to help improve traffic signal operations decision-making by leveraging higher resolution traffic data within an architecture that provides real-time simulation, modelling, testing, and verification.

The transportation DT can be conceptualised as traffic data being collected from different sensing and messaging systems, including deployed detection sensors, CV

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communication systems, personal mobile devices and CCTV cameras in real time to create an operational cyber copy of the roadway and systems.

Although the concept of DT is to replicate the physical system, it is still a static representation of the roadway. For a transportation DT to be a functional and strategic tool, it must also include a mathematical modelling architecture layer on top to leverage the deployed sensor systems of the physical roadway as well as other sources of data, to be able to estimate and predict traffic and mobility interactions and user travel behaviour, ultimately to provide a representation of real-time movements of all roadway users.

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For the first time, we have the necessary coalescence of traffic signal performance measures, machine learning and information communication technologies

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that better distributes green time, reduces arrivals on red, and traffic queuing at select intersections according to the current traffic conditions.

However, adaptive signal control is reactive by design and its application.

As a result, it is a challenge to effectively reduce traffic delays throughout an entire transportation network for already-congested traffic conditions, including due to planned and unplanned events.

In addition, adaptive signal control has traditionally been applied only to priority corridors. While this helps to reduce travel and average wait times for vehicles where adaptive signal control is applied, cumulative average wait times can increase citywide.

To address the limitations of ASCT, as well as many other future traffic management capability issues, including connected vehicle (CV) operations, leveraging a DT strategy that runs a simulation with real-time data integration during system run-time has the potential to move traffic management optimisation from a reactive operation to proactive.

A roadway DT presents a new technology paradigm in roadway traffic management strategy. In the past, traffic operation simulations and analytics - if they were utilised - occurred separately offline and used historical traffic data.

Digital twin technology raises the decision-making capability bar to the next level by enabling simulation-based control optimisation in near real-time that was technologically unattainable until now. It helps to establish a technology platform that fosters a systems operational state that can deliver real-time predictive analytics in support for new safety and optimisation strategies in traffic management. Macro

Proprietary sensors

The traffic data platform can now be leveraged as a distributed computing architecture to power new applications such as digital twin

and microscopic simulation results based on real-time traffic data can provide a foundation for the future real-time analysis and predictive optimisation strategies for traffic signal operations of comprehensive roadway networks.

Adopting a digital twin strategy Real-time traffic signal optimisation and the efficacy potential of a DT platform have been made possible by new sensor and software technologies, and the high-resolution traffic data they are able to provide. One of the critical capabilities of new sensor and software technologies is the availability of vehicle classification, trajectory, tracking data, as well as data on pedestrians and bicyclists.

Driven recently by the safety applications of CV technologies, Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) communications or Vehicle to Everything (V2X), the higher resolution traffic data represents continuous communication between vehicles and other roadway users with the infrastructure. This provides the fundamental physical roadway data to accurately establish a current and future state of the intersection and roadway, or situational awareness2, which is essential to the next process step in adopting an effective DT strategy.

The importance of traffic controllers and software In a DT-driven strategy to constantly monitor and optimise traffic flow and operations, it is necessary to create a DT of the traffic signal controllers, which requires a traffic controller firmware that provides virtual interface and control with the DT. The DT of the traffic controllers establishes a current state of vehicles and www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

DIGITAL TWINS DIGITAL TWIN

Digital replica of vehicles, traffic signals and roadway network

Collecting vehicles and traffic signal phase and timing data

Adaptive traffic signal control algorithm

Decision making for traffic controller

Generation of traffic signal phase and timing information

Wired & wireless communication PHYSICAL ROADWAY ENVIRONMENT Sensing of vehicles' trajectory data and traffic signal timing and phasing information

Physical replica or real vehicles, traffic signals and roadway networks

Actuation information of traffic signal controller

This simplified diagram of a traffic controller digital twin network environment illustrates the cyber and physical versions of the roadway

the roadway network and provides access to the sensor and CV communications data, including object trajectories, classifications and traffic signal data.

Signal phase and timing (SPaT) and MAP (intersection geometry) messages must be transmitted from the traffic controller at the intersections to the corresponding DT. This also establishes and requires the controllers as an integral part of a distributed or edge computing network. After the traffic data is communicated from the physical controller to the DT, the process is nearly identical to existing SPM and adaptive signal control applications whereby the data is fed into the adaptive signal control algorithm that

generates SPaT parameters, which are then pushed back to the physical traffic signal controller to change signal timing in response to current traffic conditions.

Unlike traditional adaptive signal control applications, the digital twin provides the capability and platform to simulate the effects of the signal change across an entire roadway network - more like a neural network instead of at a few intersections along a single priority corridor.

As a result the DT, leveraging trajectory and tracking detection data, can establish the cumulative average wait time of vehicles approaching an intersection and then the average wait time of the vehicles at

intersections citywide. This can only be accomplished through the DT of the larger roadway system, including the network of traffic controllers – not just the immediate intersection(s) along a single or priority corridor.

Green time can then be prioritised at intersections based on the longest average wait time for a given movement, including adjacent intersections, simulated, tested and then immediately applied. Allocating green time according to distributed average wait times throughout the roadway network can significantly reduce cumulative average wait times.

Mathematical model layer is key The objectives of DT-driven traffic signal control operations should be able to improve mobility by:

The traffic controller network with the traffic data coverage of adjacent signalised intersections takes on a neural network appearance

• •

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Reducing wait times by dynamically distributing green times Responding to real-time traffic demands and allocating SPaT according to cumulative average wait times Scaling to a citywide roadway network Applying predictive traffic signal control strategies

Adjacent coverage area

• •

Signalised intersection

The primary challenge to leveraging a DT for traffic signal operations will be applying a mathematical model layer on top of the DT. This modelling architecture will provide the basis for macro and microscopic simulations.

However, this requires combining and linking traffic data from diverse and disparate sources of the physical roadway to create a highly accurate cyber copy of the physical roadway traffic operations.

The mathematical model is key to collect © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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DIGITAL TWINS and enhance information from real-time data sources to help optimise the traffic signal operations. It will aggregate real-time data feeds and real-time events, which provide information on the traffic state on the road, fusing various sources of information into one comprehensive view. This then allows the model to use a variety of analytical, simulation, and AI tools to deliver measurable traffic and mobility predictions and forecasts.

In general, predictive analytics applies various techniques including statistical inference, machine learning, data mining and data taxonomy toward the goal of dynamically and proactively optimising the signal operations through forecasting, modelling and understanding of future traffic behaviours. This methodology complements well with the architecture put in place through ITS, SPM and ASCT systems based on the aggregation and analytics of historical and real-time traffic data.

As with most highly variable operations that require process optimisation, it is also advisable to adopt an operational strategy that optimises the adaptive signal control for a range of time periods. Often referred to as a rolling-horizon3, this strategy leverages micro and macroscopic simulation that aims to help effectively optimise a large-scale operation periodically by utilising additional data from proximate following periods.

Applying this strategy for adaptive signal control will be important for predictive analytics4.

Artificial intelligence-driven predictive traffic control algorithms that leverage the same highly accurate vehicle trajectory and tracking data developed using a rolling-horizon strategy can optimise SPaT for future traffic conditions. This can be achieved by using CV and other anonymous mobile device data.

This additional layer of high-resolution data enables the use of a phase allocation algorithm that can generate geopositional

“

API

Forecast: Identified time profiles (typical days) as input for the short-term forecast

Historical data 15' Intervals

CSV CSV CSV

Algorithms of machine learning Normalisation Original data

Zero-centered data

Normalised data

A sample machine learning architecture for forecasting traffic

status of all roadway users to predict and proactively optimise the SPaT sequence and duration. As a result, the DT-driven adaptive signal control with predictive analytics can solve a two-level optimisation problem by prioritising and allocating traffic signal timing for a particular intersection, as well as distributing SPaT to predictively optimise travel times and efficiencies throughout an entire signalised network.

Conclusion The introduction of DT as a strategy for traffic signal operations is expected to fundamentally change surface transportation operations. DT paired with mathematical modelling technology offers simulation-based optimisation at real time and forms the foundation for real-time predictive analytics as support for optimal traffic signal programming and safety-critical decisions in traffic management.

For the first time, we have the necessary coalescence of traffic signal performance measures, machine learning and information communication technologies to effectively adopt DT strategies that will deliver profound benefits to mobility. ITS

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

A. Rudskoy, I. Ilin, and A. Prokhorov. Digital Twins in the Intelligent Transport Systems, Transportation Research Procedia, Vol. 54, 2021. ISSN:2352-1465 U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) – Raising Awareness of Artificial Intelligence for Transportation Systems Management and Operations – FHWAHOP-19-052, December 2019. https://ops.fhwa.dot. gov/publications/fhwahop19052/index.htm#toc L. Glomb, F. Liers, F. RÖsel. A Rolling-Horizon Approach for Multi-Period Optimization, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 300, Issue 1, July 2022.

G. Shmueli, O. Koppius. Predictive Analytics in Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 3, September 2011, Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Sunny Chakravarty (left) is Econolite VP of engineering; Lorenzo Meschini is PTV Group VP product management & engineering real-time

Digital twin technology has the potential to fundamentally transform traffic signal management and operations

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SMART, SAFE, AND SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY FOR ALL THE WORLD’S LEADING MEETING PLACE FOR MOBILITY PROFESSIONALS

INTEGRATED SUMMIT PROGRAMME Enjoy a knowledge programme of over 120 sessions, from debates to demonstrations.

200+ speakers will cover the hottest topics touching on policy support, best practices, user cases, trends and more.

LARGEST EVER EVENT FLOOR 900+ public and private organisations spread over 12 halls will present the latest solutions and developments in mobility and traffic technology.

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INTERTRAFFIC AMSTERDAM 2024

© RAI Amsterdam

Smart, safe & sustainable mobility for all Intertraffic Amsterdam 2024 is the place where the movers and shakers of the global ITS industry will gather from 16-19 April. With emphasis on climate, artificial intelligence – and even drones – this edition has something for everyone in the transportation sector… public-private frameworks to achieve sustainability goals, digital twins to tackle transport problems, as well as lessons learned from micromobility pilots and mobility hubs.

Visitors can attend workshops and panel discussions on cycling and transit solutions and bicycle-oriented infrastructure and on stimulating active travel and micromobility challenges from the European Cyclists’ Federation, Polis, the Dutch Cycling Embassy and MaaS Alliance. They will share various trends and developments to speed up the sustainable mobility transition and have

gathered excellent examples on sustainable urban mobility development for policymakers around the world. The Summit Programme showcases various examples of seamless mobility services focusing on interoperability and user-friendliness too. There is a dedicated MaaS providers pavilion in hall 3.

Need for seamless parking experiences Parking technology is well represented in the Summit Programme with trends and challenges highlighted in workshops from the

© RAI Amsterdam

Working towards climate resilience Sustainable urban mobility solutions and seamless mobility services are covered at Intertraffic, which takes place at RAI Amsterdam. There is particular emphasis on cooperating in an ecosystem, successful Mobility as a Service applications and integrated services, software interoperability, data-driven platforms and creating digital infrastructures for for MaaS, parking and charging and, specifically, parking in MaaS offerings. But sustainable and inclusive mobility will also be tackled, as will creating

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INTERTRAFFIC AMSTERDAM 2024 European Parking Association and presentations from major players such as EasyPark, Flowbird, Skidata, IEM and Riverty. The presentations mainly focus on convenience for the traveller, free-flow parking, parking data collection, parking in MaaS offerings, on-street parking going digital, innovative payment systems for parking, and how to create smart parking solutions and smart kerbside management. In their presentations, parking exhibitors and parking stakeholder organisations underline the need for seamless parking experiences, optimising the customer journey and shining a spotlight on new and emerging technologies to gather data and create interoperable customised parking services.

parking, EV parking services, EV charging regulations and fast-charging stations - with presentations from EasyPark Group, Royal Haskoning DHV and Vega Chargers. There will also be a panel discussion on Challenges and Prospects of Embedding EV Charging in Public and Semi-Public Areas, while Electric Vehicles & Charging will have a designated pavilion on the exhibition floor in hall 3.

The sessions aim to equip policymakers and parking operators with tools and practical examples to effectively address the growth of electric vehicles and corresponding services needed for charging.

gathering of the urban air mobility community and comprises a high-level conference and a Future of Urban Mobility stage and showcase area in hall 11. Embracing UAM in urban mobility is pivotal for numerous reasons, with sustainability at the forefront.

On the Air Mobility stage a spectrum of topics are covered related to urban planning and traffic management, including the future of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, insights from regional and city experiences with UAM, strategic considerations for deploying UAM infrastructure like vertiports, optimising last-mile logistics, and the integration of drone delivery services.

Attendees can witness the latest unmanned aerial vehicles up close, engage with exhibitors, and learn all about the UAM developments. This is an unparalleled opportunity for urban planners and traffic professionals to stay ahead in their fields, foster collaboration, and contribute to the sustainable and innovative future of urban mobility.

Improving safety with AI Attendees can also learn about new technologies to improve road safety such as AI, smart enforcement and detection solutions, improving intersection safety and creating safer work zone areas, smart mobility applications to warn road users, mobility data for safer cities, smart asset management, smart sensor technology and smart ways to clear road debris from Yunex, Valerann, Acusensus, Rijkswaterstaat, PTV, Vitronic, Ramudden, Parifex and J-tech. IRF Global and the International Road Federation are also part of the programme, with workshops and special sessions on smart ways to reduce accidents and congestion and smart asset management. They will share ideas and best practices to improve road safety and achieve vision zero for policymakers around the world.

Using AI for smart asset management Smart and sustainable infrastructure is high on the agenda at Intertraffic Amsterdam, along with practical applications for smart road infrastructure and the utilisation of AI for smart asset management. Software interoperability, ensuring that cities and towns have choices in digital infrastructure, is a topic explored by Miovision. Digital infrastructure for future-proof mobility is explored with TNO and a workshop from the IRF Global and its partners looks at constructing safe and climate-resilient roads. Other topics are: smart cycling infrastructures, smart road marking from Geveko, and digitalisation for improved asset management. The numerous innovations and learning experiences presented during Intertraffic empower road operators to proactively address the construction of secure, future-proof roads and navigate the sustainable and digital transition they are undergoing.

Embedding EV charging in public areas A recent addition to the Summit Programme is electric vehicles & charging, concentrating on the integration of EV charging and

Co-located event: Amsterdam Drone Week (ADW) There’s a bonus opportunity to get up to speed on urban air mobility (UAM) while visiting Intertraffic. ADW is the premier

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Visitor registration is now open!

Professionals are invited to join and get up to speed on the key global mobility developments and find the necessary tools to facilitate the mobility transition. A visitor pass gives access to the entire event including the summit programme. More information is available at www.intertraffic.com ITS

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VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENT

Sowing the seeds Seed funding can help the budding creators of mobility solutions to realise their dreams and ambitions. Laura Fox of Streetlife Ventures tells Adam Hill what venture capital investors look for

I

t’s one thing having a great idea in transportation – it’s quite another turning it into a game-changing product or solution. It’s not just a question of imagination and expertise: you need cash.

Streetlife Ventures is a venture capital fund which provides money to start-ups and early-stage initiatives which may otherwise struggle to access funding.

The company was recently named Spotlight Venture in the Empower Women in Shared Mobility (EmpowerWISM) Awards, recognised in particular for its potential to help female-founded entities.

Streetlife co-founder and managing director Laura Fox’s background includes time as general manager of Citi Bike at Lyft, growing it from under $40 million in ridership revenue to over $120m.

further investment.

“Every venture investor should be counselling founders on this,” she insists. “It's a really critical and good thing for both the founder as well as for the venture investor.

We've been mentoring start-ups, advising on some of the things that they were lacking from their current venture investors.”

Streetlife focuses on five sectors, “all at the intersection of cities and climate and drawing on our own background”, says Fox. As well as mobility & logistics, these are: buildings, energy, waste & water and, finally, adaptation.

“When we think about cities as these dense components where half of humanity lives and 70% of emissions come from - those sectors are really critical to change,” she explains. Approximately 75% of the urban infrastructure of 2050 is yet to be built, representing a $5 trillion market opportunity.

With these factors in mind, Streetlife wants to know about the pain point in the industry that the entrepreneur is trying to tackle – what is the problem? Also, how does it help with the climate question? What’s the potential size of the market and how well does the founder understand it? How good are they at selling and bringing on early employees? How viable is the business?

What's the current state of the product in terms of technical risk? How high are the

© Krisana Antharith | Dreamstime.com

Free dollars The first thing the Streetlife team does with any budding mobility entrepreneur is to tell them how to access other funding rather than theirs. Fox will typically advise companies to seek ‘non-dilutive’ financing first, which allows start-ups to access money while retaining full ownership of their company. “We see a lot of people reaching out to us with a deck and an idea that

might be incredibly exciting, and maybe the founder has incredible market fit,” Fox says.

“But the thing that we tell them immediately is: ‘Before you go out and ask for venture dollars, why don't you go take a look at all of the free dollars that are available from grants?’ Europe and the US have a lot of those dollars available right now.”

This could be used to fund R&D, attract a customer and create a working version of a product, for example, giving the entrepreneur more leverage to attract

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VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENT

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‘Embrace chaos’ All venture capital investors have to look at the business that exists today, but must also see the potential for growth ahead.

“There’s going to have to be a lot of pivots as it relates to that,” Fox continues. “So how well has an entrepreneur learned from the pivots that they've already made? What are some of those learnings? What did they do with the information that they gathered?

How has that led to the business in front of them today? And so building trust in the general path that someone is heading on believing that something big is possible - and that this is the founder to really drive for that vision, and that they have the grit and adaptability and all those other attributes, is pretty critical.”

It’s no surprise, perhaps, that Streetlife says it is keen to “embrace chaos”. But what does that actually mean? “We see a lot of people who might invest in climate but don't want to invest in urban areas because there is this natural chaos to it,” Fox smiles.

“We joke that ‘who owns the kerb?’ could have a different answer in every single city that you're involved in, so there's a degree of complexity to that. But one of the things that we get excited by is navigating that chaos. It has the potential for incredible impact in the streets and neighbourhoods where we all live, as well as for building incredible modes for entrepreneurs. And so there's a great opportunity there on both ends of the spectrum.”

Streetlife has a couple of different measures for success. “We are a returns-focused fund,” says Fox. “We believe intimately that to create the best impact, you have to build the best businesses. And so we're looking for returns, and those returns drive forward impact. So if, at a unit level, you're creating impact in terms of reducing emissions based on vehicle-type use, you create the most impact if you can scale the most. We see those things as very intertwined. That’s why we have total available market and also a climate impact hurdle when we're first looking at a company, before we do anything else.”

Making a return for investors is crucial. “We like to think about the value prop[osition] for folks that invest in us as you can have a lot of incredible impact,

One of the things I love about mobility is that you can just go try it Laura Fox Streetlife Ventures

support founders who are going to be creating the next game-changing initiatives in urban and climate areas, and also see substantial return yourself,” Fox explains.

Making an exit Venture funds typically look for an exit after 10 years, she says. “Early conversations with an entrepreneur can involve things like how many different customer types are you planning to expand to? What does that look like in the short-, medium- and long-term?”

Fox’s time at Citi Bike saw it grow from under $40 million in ridership revenue to over $120m

Mergers and acquisitions in the ‘climate’ space are common at present, Fox adds, with corporates acquiring earlier-stage companies. “Those valuations are quite high, which is really exciting for a lot of entrepreneurs in the space,” she continues.

“The IPO [initial public offering] market has been lagging but that's something that, over the next 10 years, we expect to change as climate solutions become the solutions and every company becomes a climate company to some degree.”

A major factor in bringing a solution from concept to deployment is having the right ecosystem in place. Fox and her fellow co-founder and managing director Sonam Velani “both have a life's work network from past roles and we’ve been in this space for a long time”, Fox says.

As well as investors in real estate and infrastructure, the fund has links with pre-commercialisation test beds such as Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York.

“And these are really critical because the private sector - as much as it wants to try and adopt new things - can only really feel comfortable if it's been tested and tried before, otherwise it's expensive, costly and time-consuming for them,” Fox concludes.

“And one of the things I love about mobility is that you can just go try it. I can't tell you how many investors I've spoken to who are invested in something in the same city in which they live - and they call me for diligence. I say: ‘Well, have you gone over there? It's just two miles away. Have you actually tried it and thought about this from the perspective of a consumer?’ I think that there is a lot to gain and to be understood through that kind of experience.” ITS

City © Ritu Jethani | Dreamstime.com

regulatory hurdles? How much ethnographic research have they done? How well do they understand the customer profile? What kind of testing has been carried out? What does the pipeline look like? Despite this exhaustive list of questions – and because these companies tend to be at such an early stage - Fox acknowledges with a laugh that there is also an element of faith required: “What do we have to believe that feels reasonable and is in line with the business that the entrepreneur is trying to grow?”

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WEIGH IN MOTION

City © Lightpoet | Dreamstime.com

Benefits of a harmonised international standard for Weigh in Motion Weigh in Motion vendors are frustrated that OIML accreditation is not proving to be enough to satisfy tenders in some countries. In this article, the board of the International Society for Weigh in Motion suggests a possible way forward…

W

eigh in Motion (WiM) is a technology that can be used for various applications related to the weights and axle loads of road vehicles.

Road-based WiM systems are installed either at the side of the road with measurement sensors embedded directly into the road pavement for direct measurements or beneath a bridge for indirect measurements.

Weighing while in motion is generally defined as the process of measuring the dynamic tyre forces of a moving road vehicle (dynamic wheel loads) and estimating the gross vehicle weight (GVW) and the portion of that weight carried by each wheel, axle and axle group of a corresponding static vehicle (static wheel and axle loads).

In addition to measuring the GVW, axle group loads, axle loads and often wheel loads of the passing vehicles, a WiM system will also determine other parameters related to the vehicle (i.e. vehicle length, vehicle class and number of axles) and its passage over the WiM system (i.e. date, time, speed and lane).

As a result, a WiM system will measure, store and provide detailed data from the traffic flow and the traffic loading. For WiM systems certain specific conditions apply. www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

These conditions have an impact on the quality and reliability of the data measured by the WiM system and of the durability of the sensors and WiM system itself.

LS-WiM and HS-WiM WiM systems are often divided into two different groups: Low-Speed WIM (LS-WiM) and High-Speed WIM (HS-WiM). While these terms are commonly used, there is the possibility of some confusion because the terms suggest there will be a speed limit that separates LS-WiM and HS-WiM. It is more accurate to define LS-WiM as a WiM system that operates in a controlled weighing environment with limited variations in the way the vehicle will pass the system during the measurement.

On the contrary, HS-WiM is defined as a WiM system that operates under either freeflow traffic conditions without any control over how the vehicles will pass over the WiM system or controlled environments such as a dedicated heavy vehicle lane. Albeit more controlled than a free-flow environment, controlled HS-WiM environments remain quite dynamic.

The primary difference between the two is that for LS-WiM, measurements of the

vehicle dynamics (movements of the vehicle and its axles while driving) are significantly reduced and may be ignored. While for HS-WiM systems, the vehicle dynamics are part of the measurement and may not be ignored. This raises the question if a WiM standard should include requirements for both LS-WiM and HS-WiM systems, and how this could be achieved without including unnecessary restrictive requirements.

The use of HS-WiM has many benefits: from identifying overloaded vehicles to helping engineers design pavements to carry the anticipated traffic and providing a powerful tool for enforcement officers to reduce overloading.

HS-WiM is not a perfect science as the measurement of the dynamic weight of vehicles is impacted by variations in both road (traffic and infrastructure) and weather conditions. Accuracy and reliability of measurement data as a function of usage is a key consideration for WiM systems.

Governments and industry have worked over many years to establish specifications such as COST323 developed in Europe and standards such as ASTM-E1318 developed in North America, and many more on a national or regional basis. © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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WEIGH IN MOTION Another document that is often used internationally as a reference is the OIML R-134: the international recommendation on “Automatic instruments for weighing road vehicles in motion and measuring axle loads”, to give it its full title. OIML (www.oiml.org) is an intergovernmental treaty organisation that develops model recommendations and related documents for use by legal metrology authorities and industry. There are currently 64 member states and 63 corresponding members within the organisation. Whilst recommended for adoption each member (and beyond) may adopt in full or part, or not at all. OIML can also appoint laboratories globally with the task of testing equipment under each of their international recommendations. In the case of R-134, there are six such laboratories listed by OIML on their website with this accreditation.

Free-flow HS-WiM The OIML R-134 was initially introduced to address low-speed and static weighing.

With the advent and growth of high-speed WiM, amendments have been added to this international recommendation over the years. Fortunately for the industry, about four years ago OIML began the process of revising R-134 to consider the advancements in technology since its original inception in 2006 to specifically include free-flow HS-WiM. This has been welcomed by the membership of the International Society for Weigh in Motion (ISWIM). ISWIM (www.is-wim.net) is a society that unites the broader Weigh in Motion community and comprises three distinct stakeholder groups. The stakeholders are: users of WiM and the information it collects; academics and researchers in WiM technology and its associated data; and vendors that manufacture WiM products and/or services.

OIML’s website states that its mission is to enable economies to put in place effective legal metrology infrastructures that are mutually compatible and internationally recognised, for all areas for which

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governments take responsibility, such as those that facilitate trade, establish mutual confidence and harmonise the level of consumer protection worldwide. This is where the issue for the high-speed WiM industry occurs.

Several vendors have already carried out - or are in the process of obtaining - OIML accreditation by OIML-certified laboratories.

Vendors in particular see this as a necessary investment, while noting the significant drain on cost, time and human resources for making systems available for laboratory tests, finding new test sites, installing a test system, hiring of test trucks, etc. This is a task not to be taken lightly, but for vendors who seek to demonstrate the performance and compliance of their HS-WiM systems it is a necessary one.

Once accreditation has been awarded to the equipment, in theory vendors should be able to apply for tenders globally where OIML R-134 accreditation has been achieved. Industry vendors are becoming increasingly frustrated that in daily practice, their OIML accreditation is not proving to be enough to satisfy tenders in other member states - i.e. Vendor X has achieved certification from member state A but member state B says they want more of the same tests to be carried out before they accept the equipment as OIML standard. If member state A’s tests have been carried out in accordance with the regulations, what more tests need to be carried out in member state B? This is a hinderance for vendors as mentioned previously. The leadership of ISWIM is under increasing pressure from the members of its Vendors & Consultants College to address this situation.

Harmonised approach From the point of view of the buyers/end users of WiM systems, it may seem like a good idea to have their own dedicated set of specifications or a ‘procurement document’ with a set of requirements that is specific to their needs including retesting the OIML R-134. However, in practice

this approach often means that many WiM vendors will choose not to go through the repeat and additional tests for this specific set of requirements. As a result, the buyer may end up with very few or even just one vendor preparing a bid for a tender with a well-known impact on both the price and the long-term quality due to lack of competitive forces. It is appropriate to apply a strict set of specifications in a tender to select the highest quality providers. However, this can backfire when the specific nature of the specifications results in providers of high-quality solutions deciding not to participate in a tender for no other reason than having to retest what they have already been independently certified.

This is especially valid for buyers representing a (very) small market where the costs for the type of approval procedure will weigh heavily on the price of each system.

Clearly, there are benefits in a harmonised approach, where recognition of OIML R-134 is warranted without having to do additional tests specific for the unique user needs reflected in the tender document.

The ISWIM membership base combines the most expertise and experience with WiM technologies and applications worldwide.

However, ISWIM - apart from acknowledging the importance of, and supporting them - has no formal position in the development and implementation of international standards.

ISWIM is serving as an external expert in the current revisions of OIML R-134. ISWIM welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with OIML in the ‘education’ of the end users of WiM on the pros and cons of using an international recommendation versus using a set of specific tender specifications.

In addition, ISWIM is willing to assist OIML in educating management of national legal authorities and certification institutes of the benefits of adopting an international recommendation over developing their own specific specification.

ISWIM is trying to determine its role to help improve the situation and seeking constructive discussion from the WiM community to resolve this dilemma. ITS

www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

Project-specific weigh-in-motion solutions for statistical, preselection and enforcement applications based on COST 323 respectively OIML R134.

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State of the Art Weigh-In-Motion Systems

ELECTRONIC Our toll collection systems can work with other systems and meet international standards, including the highest safety standards.

T O L L COLLECTION INTETRA provide services for both technical and commercial system operation. All the basic technologies are produced in-house.

TOLLING

All eyes on Buenos Aires Tattile has provided its high-performance, free-flow ANPR system consisting of Vega Smart 2HD camera and Axle Counter cameras - powered by artificial intelligence - to the capital of Argentina. David Arminas reports

T

Aires, which is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the province's capital; rather, it is an autonomous district.

Halving urban emissions With such a large population, traffic congestion and resulting air pollution from near-stationary vehicles at times are major issues for residents. The city’s Climate Action Plan, launched in 2020, aims to halve all urban emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Many of the initiatives are focused on both reducing vehicle trips and transitioning to cleaner fuels. Free-flow tolling is seen as part of the solution to cut down on both for the more than 93,000 daily users of the AU Illia.

Atsa Argentina, a specialist in Weigh in Motion, traffic signal and vehicle counting solutions, was chosen by Ausa as the project lead. Atsa worked closely with the systems integrator for the project, Movyon, based in Italy.

Movyon develops and integrates ITS, tolling and infrastructure monitoring solutions and is the centre of excellence for research and innovation of Autostrade per l'Italia Group. Movyon provides solutions for motorway concessionaires, road authorities, public administrations

and service providers. The company’s technology is deployed on 75% of the roads in Italy and within 10 million on-board devices for dynamic toll collection across Europe, handling more than a billion transactions annually.

Technical solutions for the Buenos Aires highway project were provided

by Tattile, a maker of ANPR and other vehicle identification solutions based mainly on artificial intelligence. The company was founded in 1988 in Brescia, Italy, and became part of TKH Group in 2018. TKH (Twentsche Kabel Holding) is based in the Netherlands and makes smart technology for vision, manufacturing and connectivity systems.

Barrier-free structure In the Argentinian capital, Tattile provided a high-performance ANPR system that charges all highway users according to their vehicle’s class and the distance they have travelled along the AU Illia. In the end, the ANPR system replaced 28 traditional toll stations with a system of gantries and an imposing, technologically advanced,

© Raul Condori Blanco | Dreamstime.com

he City of Buenos Aires has set up a multi-lane, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), free-flow tolling system to help tackle traffic congestion as part of a wider climate change action plan. The barrier-free system is along the 10.5km-long Autopista Arturo Umberto Illiam, also called the AU Illia, one of the main entrances and exits to the south Atlantic port city.

The freeway links the Argentinian capital’s northern suburbs with the downtown and connects truck and bus traffic from La Plata to the north, running along the east shore of the city. (Arturo Umberto Illiam was a noted physician and politician who was Argentinian president from 1963-66).

The new system has been implemented for Ausa - Autopistas Urbanas Sociedad Anónima - the company in charge of maintaining and operating highways within Buenos Aires with its three million population. But the wider metropolitan population is around 17 million – about a third of the country’s total. Ausa’s main shareholder is the government of the City of Buenos

Buenos Aires has set up a MLFF, ANPR system as part of a wider climate change action plan

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© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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TOLLING

Atsa Argentina was chosen by Ausa as the AU Illia project lead, working closely with systems integrator Movyon

barrier-free structure that allows the free transit of all types of vehicles.

The project includes two automatic toll collection gantries and accompanying structures. Tattile provided 54 Vega Smart 2HD cameras for the two tolling gates covering 11 transit lanes in total. Tattile will also provide maintenance, support, monitoring and periodic software upgrades for two complete lanes.

Tattile says its Vega Smart 2HD cameras guarantee high-performance detection and recognition even at high vehicle speeds. This is achieved through the use of an embedded optical character recognition (OCR) algorithm, which is capable of reading both reflective and non-reflective licence plates.

OCR technology can extract editable text content from text that appears inside images - for example, in a photo of a road sign or even a scanned document.

Tattile’s system provides detailed information about the vehicle, including OCR and colour context images, as well as optical speed evaluation. With the ability to read both reflective and non-reflective licence plates, Smart 2HD offers a comprehensive solution for transit management in complex applications. The system is also able to detect and recognise different types of licence plates, including those on cars, trucks and motorbikes.

The Smart 2HD camera has been specifically designed for the requirements of free-flow toll collection, traffic monitoring and security. The system covers two lanes at maximum 7.5m width and detects vehicles at a speed of up to 250km/h.

Optical speed evaluation Additional standard functionalities for the Smart 2HD camera include embedded ANPR, monochrome vehicle images and colour-context vehicle images. There is an optical speed evaluation as well as the capability to read reflective and non-reflective licence plates. Tattile says that an extrasensitive sensor mounted on the Smart

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algorithm that can detect the number of axles, the presence of twin wheels and raised axles.

The vandal-proof Axle Counter comes in a robust, water-proof protection IP67certified case. It features a power-over-ethernet (POE) interface for minimising installation and maintenance times. The Linux-based camera captures images with a high frame rate and processes them with its internal deep learning algorithms (AI) trained over a very large number of images and continuously increasing to provide high performances in a compact processing device.

2HD’s camera ensures quality images also in low-light conditions. The modular system architecture allows an easy customisation of the hardware platform, according to the complexity of each given application.

These standard features are complemented by optional functionalities which transform the camera from a standard plate reader into a true smart vehicle recognition and a security system.

Such a system can be added to recognise the vehicle brand, vehicle class and even the vehicle colour and additionally offer HD – high definition - streaming for video surveillance. The Smart camera can also be equipped to simultaneously run two different OCRs on-board. The real-time number/ licence plate identification is then performed by two independent software tools inside the system in order to provide a maximum accuracy. Through this double OCR, the validated number plate data is a direct output from the camera; additional third party analysis software is redundant which reduces complexity and system costs for the user.

Meanwhile, to have a complete automatic, multi-lane, free-flow system, Tattile’s Axle Counter cameras were introduced along the AU Illia highway. The Axle Counter system is specially designed for tolling applications where vehicles pass through without stopping. It comes with a dedicated

Optimising image quality Thanks to the external infrared illuminator at wavelength of 850nm, the Axle Counter captures clear and detailed images in any weather conditions and during the night, without interfering with vehicle drivers.

Furthermore, the camera controls the illuminator optimising the image quality and the overall results.

The Axle Counter system allows for fast image processing to determine details about the vehicle, such as its speed and other characteristics, at any time of the day or night. Axle Counters detect vehicle axles through image analysis, eliminating the need for road work during the installation or maintenance of external devices.

The combined installation of Smart 2HD and Axle Counter for a free-flow tolling system allows complete information about the vehicle. The system generates the images of the vehicle, coming from the Smart 2HD and from the Axle Counter, together with the configurable set of metadata, offering a cutting-edge solution for modern applications.

The success of the project can be measured by evaluating some key performance indicators (KPIs) and evaluation criteria that were defined and shared with the customer at the beginning of the project. These KPIs were fully achieved, with a number plate recognition rate of 99% and a vehicle classification level higher than 95%. ITS www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

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Cleveland’s stone Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge

AUTOMATED DRIVING

The real case for driverless mobility

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A key component of public transportation?

What will automated driving really be good for? Bern Grush of Urban Robotics Foundation offers his thoughts on the big issues around its implementation - and suggests a newly-published book might point the way forward

www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

there still seems to be an unending supply of edge cases that ADS systems need to learn.

Variable human behaviour Beyond the concern of these experts, when we compare the safety of common carrier vehicles equipped with fully-engaged ADS (Level 4) versus that of ADS-equipped household vehicles that may be engaged arbitrarily or under select conditions by their driver (Level 3), we have far too little sufficiently-reliable evidence to gauge the safety of ADS-equipped vehicles under private ownership.

Another claim frequently heard is that ADSs can optimise traffic flow, reduce bottlenecks and enhance overall road efficiency — i.e. smoother travel and less congestion for everyone. This would surely be true in an engineered environment in which all of the vehicles involved were under standardised

“

Our progress toward removing the human driver from road vehicles will be slower than anticipated, crammed with unintended consequences, and possibly never fully complete

“

T

he advantages claimed for passenger vehicles controlled by automated driving systems (ADS) remain in the future.

Some may be exaggerated, others are likely unreachable due to human preferences and fears, and still others are many decades away because of built environments, human habits and resistance to change. Our progress toward removing the human driver from road vehicles will be slower than anticipated, crammed with unintended consequences, and possibly never fully complete, implying there will always be some human-driven vehicles, even a century from now. This is a cultural and sociological observation, not a technological one.

The principal claim in favour of ADS deployment is safety—the potential to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities. While I do not doubt this potential, and in fact some approaches to ADS development anecdotally appear to support this claim, experts such as Philip Koopman (Carnegie Mellon University) and Missy Cummings (George Mason University) argue that we have not yet collected enough data for a definitive understanding. It is also evident to the layman reading casual news articles that

ADS control, but no such environment yet exists, and no-one has worked out how to convert—and afford to convert—our existing mixed-driving environments with highly variable human behaviour, motivations, emotions and attention states behind the wheel.

Furthermore, if more people are able to own and use driverless vehicles, the increase in road traffic would negate this optimisation advantage. Hence, unless we address both private vehicle ownership and how we engineer road systems, it is hard to see how ADS can idealise traffic flow on real-world roadways.

Another favourite is productivity and convenience. Commute time becomes productive or less stressful when passengers can work, read or relax while their vehicle drives autonomously. Since this would hardly make any difference on short trips, it implies longer trips (which in turn implies more sprawl).

Furthermore, the large majority of drivers, relieved of the task of driving, will tend to engage in social or entertainment activities as opposed to productive work or education. In other words, unless “productivity” means to engage in one’s favourite form of distraction or a nap, then this value case for automated driving is weak at best. © ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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AUTOMATED DRIVING

The Real Case for Driverless Mobility is written by real experts from first-hand experiences, including the mobility requirements for people with special needs.

Dr. Alain Kornhauser is professor, operations research & financial engineering, and chair, Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering, Princeton University. For decades, he has been singular in his focus on autonomous taxi and urban transit to enable widespread, equitable mobility.

Michael Sena has worked in the automotive industry for over 40 years with advanced driver assistance systems and services, covering all aspects of their design, development, sale, use and financing.

There have been multiple claims of environmental benefits in that ADS can optimise driving patterns - especially during stop-andgo traffic, thereby reducing emissions. While I am certain such optimisation is readily achievable and scalable, any additional road traffic due to productivity and convenience afforded by ADS would offset this. Knowing human consumption behaviours (more cars, bigger cars, heavier cars), such benefits would be readily wiped out.

Favourite-to-hate claims One of my favourite-to-hate claims involves parking. Automated cars can drop you off, then drive away from a busy employment or shopping area and park in a cheap lot at the fringe, where they can be cleverly packed in very tightly. Or your car can drive back home, and wait there. Better yet, skip parking, and let it circle the block while you visit the dentist. Send your car off to be someone else’s problem. This is often combined with the idea of needing very much less parking in our cities.

These parking ideas imply private ownership and free road use. Private ownership means more vehicles, more driving, more congestion, more sprawl, more road costs, and more frustration and dissatisfaction with how we commute, shop and take our children to school. It will be the same thing, just a different day — business as usual.

Among the remaining claims for the value of ADS are two critical elements of access: improved mobility for people with disabilities, and improved access to jobs, shopping, healthcare, and education for people in “transit deserts” — areas underserved by public transportation.

A new book by Alain L. Kornhauser and Michael L. Sena, The Real Case for Driverless Mobility (Elsevier, 2024), advocates for automated driving systems as a core component of public transportation — specifically to provide access to underserved communities. This book is sourced from Princeton University’s long-standing and

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© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

highly regarded Smart Driving Cars effort, which has for years advocated the intelligent application of automated vehicles to improve equitable access for mobility disadvantaged populations. To paraphrase from its introduction: Even where public transit is provided, a car is required for many of the regular trips persons of all ages must take. Understanding how and why cars have become the main ticket to a better life is the first step to addressing this problem. Unequal access to jobs, education, recreation and affordable, nutritious food is a direct cause of the social disorders that plague our communities. Those who can afford to travel to where the opportunities exist can take advantage of them. Those who are poor cannot, and the cycle of poverty continues.

What better societal purpose can anyone recommend?

Another uncomfortable observation Kornhauser and Sena go on to make another uncomfortable observation. People currently being served in the initial roll-outs of robotaxi applications in US cities like Austin, Phoenix, and San Francisco are from demographics that generally already have affordable access to personal cars, ride-hailing or transit—often all three—implying that the robotaxi companies operating there are competing with existing and plentiful supply rather than offering any societal value by addressing transit deserts.

There are several compelling reasons to adopt robotaxis as a facet of public transportation:

help them reach locations not covered by existing public transit routes • Reduce congestion by using driverless shuttles to pool passengers and to replace full-size, off-peak buses when they are near-empty or infrequent • Substitute driverless shuttles for underutilised buses to optimise fleet management and reduce operating costs • Driverless shuttles can provide greater service frequency at lower cost • Robotaxis operate on-demand allowing passengers to travel at preferred times, flexibly complementing or replacing fixed-transit schedules • Well-integrated mobility benefits the local economy; it creates mobility-related employment as well as encouraging other employers to locate or stay in a community as it can now rely on its workforce having access to its places of operation—a virtuous circle of employment and community health • Thoughtful integration of robotaxis with public transit helps build public trust; as passengers become familiar with automated systems through shared services, acceptance and adoption grows Subsidising robotaxis within public transportation systems also has a strong rationale.

Subsidies would: make robotaxi use more affordable, encouraging adoption and reducing the environmental and parking burden of an overpopulation of household vehicles; ensure that equitable mobility services are accessible to all, regardless of income or housing location; and facilitate the transition from traditional transit to ADS-based systems, promoting a smoother shift toward sustainable mobility.

Filled with the reasons, methods and logic of addressing transportation inequity using driverless passenger vehicles, the Kornhauser-Sena book provides the reader with the history of how we got to so many mobility-starved populations, the purpose and value of solving this issue, and a roadmap to do so. I doubt you can read this and still turn your back on the evident best purpose of deploying driverless mobility to address one of the most egregious shortcomings of so many of our cities. ITS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

• Make fixed-route public transit more attractive and convenient by providing first- and last-mile connectivity • Increase accessibility for people in underserved areas or those with limited mobility;

Bern Grush is executive director of the Urban Robotics Foundation, a non-profit drafting an ISO standard for public-area mobile robots including a draft standard for the robotaxi pickup-dropoff problem www.urbanroboticsfoundation.org www.itsamericalive.com - Latest show news

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS

Yutraffic Blade running in Kansas Yunex Traffic reports the first installation of its Yutraffic Blade intersection controller is now operating in the city

of Salina in the US state of Kansas. Yunex says that Salina currently operates Yunex’s M60 advanced traffic

controllers and its decision to upgrade demonstrates its commitment to staying at the forefront of traffic management technology. “Benefits like being able to access the controller from anywhere and having an edge computing device at the intersection are what really motivated us to install the Yutraffic Blade,” said Dennis Dewitt, traffic signal superintendent for the City of Salina. Yutraffic Blade has been designed with enterprise network security in mind to respond to the growing needs

around critical infrastructure and zero-trust environments.

Users can remotely view, diagnose and dispatch staff with the information and equipment they need to fix and maintain intersections. Yunex says that the Yutraffic Blade is the only device on the market that empowers transportation engineers to optimise timing plans. They can easily access advanced analytics based on historical data stored locally on the transportation controller without the need for additional third-party reporting solutions.

OPTIBUS MAKES GTFS MANAGER AVAILABLE IN EUROPE

© Jose Hernandez | Dreamstime.com

Optibus, a software platform for planning, operating and optimising public transportation networks, is making its General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) Manager available in Europe. At the moment, GTFS is used by more than 350 transportation operators and state and federal agencies in North America. It helps to digitally transform passenger information systems, leading to more reliable services and better passenger satisfaction. Current users of Optibus’ GTFS offerings include the Oregon Department of Transportation, Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and Caltrain - a California commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley. Optibus’ expansion into Europe starts with a focus on Spain with Geoactio, whose own offerings integrate with third-party solutions used by mass transit authorities. Geoactio is making Optibus’ GTFS Manager accessible to Spanish public transportation agencies and cities that have been struggling to transfer service data to the cloud and make service information more accessible to passengers. Many of these agencies have received funds for digitalisation under the European Commission’s Next Generation Funds programme, established to address the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

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THEIA OPTIMISES CONTROL OF ZOOM AND FOCUS LENSES Theia Technologies’ MCR IQ™ Motor Control Board series and new MCR IQ™ application facilitate operation of Theia's motorised lenses, allowing users to control zoom, focus, P-iris and optional IR filters. Theia’s motorised lenses are designed for use in high-detail imaging tasks such as ANPR or OCR in intelligent traffic systems. The motor control boards include the MCR IQ™ application with graphical user interface (GUI) and Python module to easily send and receive commands

from the board for rapid and convenient evaluation and integration of the lenses. The user doesn’t have to worry about formatting the commands for the board. The Theia MCR

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IQ Python module converts motor steps into the specific commands required by the board and sends the commands to the board. The companion GUI allows the user to easily

operate the lens through the MCR IQ™ control board. The motor control board connects to the host computer via USB, UART, or I2C connection. The byte-string commands are the same regardless of connection method. The Theia MCR IQ Python module assumes a USB connection to a computer with a Windows operating system. The user may change this software to fit their needs.  Content produced in association with Theia Technologies

© ITS INTERNATIONAL MARCH/APRIL 2024

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS

PARIFEX'S COMPAS IS BUILT FOR SPEED Parifex's Compas is a small, mobile speed camera which is revolutionising enforcement of road traffic offences. Perched on its tripod, the Compas is an ultra-light mobile system for automated speed enforcement. Designed to make interventions easier, its installation requires no inspection.

Indeed, its fully automatic calibration system offers a high positioning tolerance, enabling it to be deployed in just a few minutes.

It is easy to use and is certified for bi-directional control on four lanes from 30 km/h to 250 km/h. Its robust, weatherproof housing can

be mounted on a tripod or placed in the boot of a stationary vehicle.

As a pioneer in speed control thanks to its 3D Lidar sensor and camera, the Compas guarantees high performance in controlling road offences, such as ticketing of up to five vehicles per second and per lane, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), vehicle classification, maximum speed per vehicle class and per lane. The Compas comes with a carrying case that holds all the components, plus a long-life battery.  Content produced in association with Parifex

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CUBIC & SAMSUNG COMBINE ON UMO PLATFORM READER

Vitronic's new Poliscan Redlight VA video-based red-light enforcement system uses AI to keep up with the complex requirements of intersection safety. It can automatically distinguish between different road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorised vehicles, allowing the system to monitor more complex traffic situations with various road users. In addition to monitoring normal red-light violations, offences such as failure to give way at pedestrian crossings are detected, which significantly increases the safety of vulnerable road users. It captures different violations simultaneously, which addresses several accident causers at once. In addition to red-light enforcement and pedestrian crossing monitoring, it is also possible to document turning violations and other intersection hazards. Poliscan Redlight VA is a combination of state-of-the-art hardware and AIpowered software. The hardware, consisting of sensor and processor, features advanced camera technology that exceeds the capabilities of the human eye. The powerful processor guarantees fast processing of large amounts of data in real time. The hardware is complemented by a sophisticated software system based on Convolutional Neural Networks, which play a central role in processing and analysing traffic data and outperform conventional algorithms in terms of recognition and identification. Simple installation ensures a budget-friendly implementation.  Content produced in association with Vitronic www.intertrafficlive.com - Latest show news

and on-demand transport services. Additionally, as transit agencies’ networks evolve and new vehicles are added, the Umo solution can adapt and expand rapidly, meeting changing demands. Finally, with 5G LTE support built in, the reader offers high-speed connectivity, facilitating efficient and speedy data transfers.

“This device offers transit agencies an affordable and convenient solution to accept payments, eliminating the need for costly hardware installations on new vehicles or shuttles,” said Barboni. “Features of a traditional fare card reader, like tap-to-pay technology, can now be accessed from the palm of a hand and easily operated by transit personnel.”

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Vitronic’s efficient intersection monitoring with AI

Cubic Transportation Systems has updated its cloud-based Umo Platform with a handheld reader for more accessible, efficient fare collection. The Umo Handheld Reader pairs Cubic’s software application with Samsung’s off-the-shelf commercial device for easy and seamless electronic fare collection on buses, trains and other types of mobility, explained Mike Barboni, chief product officer for the Umo platform. Benefits of the Umo Handheld Reader include its accessibility for smaller transit operations with limited budgets. Cubic says this provides seamless integration into existing services while expanding to new vehicles or shuttles for paratransit

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS

AMG Systems makes contact with new fibre optic line AMG Systems has introduced a new fibre optic video, data and contact closure line. Designed for ITS installations where fibre optic transmission is used for secure distance transmission, AMG says they will support a new generation of multi-megapixel coaxial cameras which require ultra-high security. The fibre optic transmission line is not IP-based, "disallowing any potential security risk into the network", AMG insists. There is no latency due to no encoding used as with an Ethernet system, the company adds. The AMG line consists of fibre optic video, video, and data, serial data and contact closure products for signal transport. The portfolio comprises the AMGFIB-1VT/ (VR) Series of single channel video transmitter/receiver, with one Duplex RS422/485 Serial Data, two Contact Closure, and supports all modern SD & HD

video formats including CVBS (PAL, NTSC, SECAM), CVI, TVI & AHD and camera resolutions up to 1960p with SD, HD, up to 5-megapixel camera types

and all major brands. There is also an AMGFIB-1SD Series industrially hardened serial data transceiver with one Duplex RS422/485 Serial Data, and

two Contact Closures; plus the AMGFIB-3CC Series industrially hardened contact closure transceiver with two contact closures.

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INTERTRAFFIC AMSTERDAM DATE FOR KISTLER BRIDGE MONITORING PORTFOLIO Kistler will showcase for the first time its complete Structural Health Monitoring portfolio for bridge protection and traffic safety at Intertraffic Amsterdam. Kistler also will highlight the potential of digitalisation through its new KiTraffic Digital platform - which it says is the most advanced and accurate Weigh in Motion (WiM) system available. Overweight trucks, extreme weather, cracking and corrosion are just a few of the factors affecting bridge infrastructure and shortening lifespans. Kistler’s Structural Health Monitoring portfolio system automatically monitors bridge structures on a 24/7

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basis. It continuously measures and tracks the actual structural resistance of the bridge and the real traffic load as reported by the integrated WiM system. In this way, it detects even the smallest structural movements and vibrations as they occur and before they cause more serious damage. Structural engineers and road operators are constantly informed of the relevant data and are notified immediately via notifications and alarms.

The monitoring system provides seamless availability of highly reliable bridge structural data thanks to its acceleration sensors from the K-Beam family.

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS

NOTRAFFIC V2X TECH GETS US PATENT APPROVAL

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NoTraffic has been granted US Patent Office approval for V2X connectivity technology that it says bridges the gap between connected and non-connected vehicles. The company was granted the patent - titled "Enhancing Traffic Control Using V2X Communication and Sensor Data" - for the Vehicle to Everything (V2X) technology used in its AI mobility platform. The platform ensures all nonconnected vehicles and vulnerable road users (VRUs) share the same benefits that were previously reserved only for connected cars. NoTraffic says that its AImobility platform offers the first software-defined infrastructure which includes sensors installed at signalised intersections, a Mobility Operating System that enables the management of the traffic light grid in real time and a Mobility Store that acts as a one-stop shop, activating a variety of mobility applications. With V2X connectivity already embedded into the NoTraffic platform, traffic operators can easily activate various V2X applications with a single click, eliminating the need for separate, dedicated hardware. The company says the solution is cost-effective, easy to install and compatible with existing infrastructures.

Additionally, the platform's built-in monitoring capabilities work 24/7 to ensure smooth operation of the safety-critical applications.

Alternate routes with SkedGo’s Traffic-Alt Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider SkedGo has launched Traffic-Alt, a traffic alert app to give drivers information about disruptions to their journey.

SkedGo says that the Traffic-Alt app distinguishes itself by providing users with real-time data on traffic disruptions, including congestion, accidents, roadworks and special events. The app employs geofencing technology to alert drivers to disruptions as they approach an incident or congested area. It is built for and powered by data sourced from Main Roads Western Australia – the agency in charge of constructing and maintaining the major roads, bridges, verges and reserves in what is Australia’s largest state by area. Traffic-Alt offers instant updates on both scheduled and unforeseen events, said Mehdi Langroudi, executive director of network operations for Main Roads Western Australia. It provides road users with timely information for a more seamless travel experience. Unlike traditional navigation apps, Traffic-Alt does not replace existing mapping solutions.

Instead, SkedGo says, it complements them, providing users with the ability to choose their own route based on real-time disruption alerts. The app allows users to preview disruptions on the map before starting their journey, providing details such as delays, travel times and the nature of the disruption.

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