March’s top news stories

Velodyne Lidar signs multi-year sales agreement with NAVYA

US-based technology firm Velodyne Lidar entered a multi-year sales agreement with NAVYA to power the latter’s autonomous shuttles with its sensors.

NAVYA has been deploying Velodyne Lidar sensors in production since 2015 for its autonomous driverless and electric fleet, which offers mobility services to cities and private sites.

NAVYA intends to pursue the global expansion of its shuttle with Velodyne’s state-of-the-art sensors for precise real-time localisation and object detection.

XPeng receives NHTSA approval to test autonomous vehicles on US roads

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng Motor received approval from the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to test its autonomous cars on US roads.

XPeng Motor cofounder and CEO He Xiaopeng announced the news to Chinese social network Weibo.

The licence allows non-US-produced autonomous vehicles to be tested on American roads, which means that the XPeng P7 electric sports sedan is now ready for complete closed-loop testing on the country’s public roads.

Neolix raises $29m to mass-produce self-driving vehicles

China-based self-driving logistics startup Neolix Technologies raised approximately RMB200m ($28.64m) in a Series A+ funding round to mass-produce its self-driving vehicles.

The latest round of funding was led by electric vehicle maker and existing investor Lixiang.

New investor ADDOR Capital and existing shareholders Yunqi Partners and Glory Ventures also took part.

Jenoptik to supply traffic safety equipment in US and Canada

German road safety solutions provider Jenoptik secured orders for the supply of traffic safety equipment in the US and Canada to support Vision Zero initiatives.

Under the $21m orders, the company will deliver new traffic camera systems to help increase road safety and security in North America.

The multi-national road traffic safety project Vision Zero aims to accomplish a highway system with zero fatalities or serious injuries caused by road traffic accidents.

UK to test transport technology to make journeys simpler and greener

The UK Government launched a consultation regarding new transport technology to make journeys easier and greener for commuters.

The consultation was launched as part of the Future of Transport regulatory review.

This review will look into small changes in people’s everyday travel decisions such as whether commuters choose to walk, cycle, scoot or take a bus one day instead of driving.

Mitsubishi Electric unveils new LiDAR solution for autonomous cars

Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric unveiled a new compact light-detection and ranging (LiDAR) solution for autonomous vehicles.

With this solution, the company seeks to further facilitate safe and secure autonomous driving operations.

The new LiDAR solution is equipped with a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) that increases horizontal vision span and enhances the vehicle and pedestrian detection capabilities of the self-driving vehicle.

Nokia delivers IoT-based highway landslide monitoring system in China

Telecom firm Nokia delivered an Internet of Things (IoT)-based highway landslide monitoring and early warning system for Chinese highways operations management company BGIGC Group.

For this offering, Nokia partnered with China Mobile / CMCC Guangxi.

The system was deployed on the G75 Lanzhou-Haikou Expressway in the Guangxi province. It has already passed through extensive trials, where it successfully prevented adverse impact to road users following a landslide in March last year.

IndInfravit acquires Sadbhav’s eight road assets for $834m

IndInfravit Trust completed the acquisition of eight operational road assets from Sadbhav Infrastructure Project for INR63bn (approximately $834m).

The acquisition was completed as per the agreement signed by IndInfravit in July last year to acquire nine operational road projects from Sadbhav Infrastructure Project.

Assets acquired under the strategic deal include Bhilwara Rajsamand Tollway, Dhule Palesner Tollway, Hyderabad Yadgiri Tollway, Nagpur Seoni Expressway, Shreenathji Udaipur Tollway, Bijapur-Hungund Tollway, Aurangabad Jalna Tollway and Mysore-Bellary Highway.

Researchers develop data driven simulation system for autonomous cars

MIT, in collaboration with Toyota Research Institute, developed a data driven simulation system with which autonomous cars can learn to drive in real world conditions and navigate through worse case scenarios.

Called Virtual Image Synthesis and Transformation for Autonomy (VISTA), the photorealistic simulator makes use of a small data set of driving trajectories by human drivers.

From real data, it then synthesises new trajectories in line with the road appearance, distance and motion of all objects in the scene.

City of Parramatta trials sustainable road solutions

City of Parramatta Council in Australia commenced trials of two sustainable road solutions in an effort to reduce waste materials and combat extreme heat.

The first trial was conducted at Chelmsford Avenue, Epping and Honor Street, Ermington where the roads were resurfaced with an asphalt product called Reconophalt.

Manufactured by Downer, Reconophalt uses recycled soft plastics from plastic bags and packaging, waste glass and waste toner from used printer cartridges.