ITS Monday: Edition 31, 2024

Talking traffic lights: NSW leading on driverless safety tech

“Self-driving robotic vehicles are communicating with traffic lights on the streets of Sydney, as part of an intelligent transport trial led by the University of Sydney and Transport for NSW that positions the state as a global leader in road safety innovation.” And f course, this is all in connection with an iMOVE project, Development and demonstration of C-ITS on NSW roads.

Related iMOVE articles:

• Autonomous Driving Info, Projects & Resources
  
• Autonomous Driving Technology
• Connected Vehicles: Info, Projects & Resources

Related iMOVE project:

• • C-ITS national harmonisation and pre-deployment research
  • Environmental impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles
  • Safely deploying automated vehicles on Australian roads

Crackdowns and bans: How the world’s cities are dealing with e-scooters

E-scooters have seen their fair share of associated controversy over the past couple of years, and that has ramped up. This is the first of three e-scooter-related items this week. In this first story, a tour of European and American cities, with a round-up of their issues and solutions.

Related iMOVE articles:

• Micromobilty: Info, Projects & Resources
• Active Transport: Info, Projects & Resources
  

Related iMOVE projects:

• OneDock: Supercharging e-micromobility
• Road use activity data: Cyclists, pedestrians and micromobility
• Impacts of eRideables on the transport task in WA

As Melbourne bans e-scooters in the CBD, how is Canberra faring four years after introducing them?

E-scooter story #2 this week, and again it’s an overview of what’s happened in a city. This time it’s closer to hone, in Canberra. “In Canberra, almost four years after e-scooters were first introduced in the nation’s capital, police say the “majority” of riders are doing the right thing. However, police do have “concerns” about some rider behaviour, as infringement data and anecdotal evidence from Canberra’s streets show not everyone is obeying the rules.”

Auckland Council orders Beam e-scooters be deactivated by midnight, refers matter to police

Last e-scooter story this week, and there’s trouble on the Auckland streets. “Auckland Council has cancelled Beam’s e-scooter licence in Auckland and given it until midnight to deactivate its fleet. The move follows the council’s investigation into a whistleblower’s allegation that the Singapore-owned firm put 300 more e-scooters on Auckland streets beyond its operating limit of 1200 (or 1400 including seated models) and manipulated the software used by the council to keep tabs on e-scooter numbers.”

Waymo is now giving 100,000 robotaxi rides a week

“Waymo disclosed Tuesday it’s now giving more than 100,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across its three main commercial markets in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix. Those figures were shared by Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana in a social media post on X. The new 100,000 figure is double what the company has previously disclosed. Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai noted on the company’s earnings call this summer Waymo was delivering well over 50,000 paid rides per week.”

50 cents, 0 cents, 1 question: how much can fare cuts boost public transport use?

This article is from The Conversation, and is co-authored by the University of Sydney’s David Levinson, Andres Fielbaum, and Emily Moylan. “Will lower fares lead to a lasting uplift in passenger numbers? Will the results differ between free and almost-free travel?”

Personalizing travel behaviour change interventions using the trans-theoretical model and multimodality data

Last for tjhis week, a new academic article, co-authored by Warnakulasooriya Umesh Ashen Lowe, Leonhard Lades & Páraic Carroll. The abstract:

Behaviourally informed soft policies, such as nudges, have become popular in areas like health, environment, and energy use as cost-effective instruments to change behaviour and decision-making. However, the effectiveness of soft policies in the transport sector is modest at best. One reason for this relative ineffectiveness might be their one-size-fits-all nature, and personalizing soft interventions has been suggested to increase their effectiveness.

The Trans-theoretical Model (TTM) suggests that people progress through five stages of behavioural change, from pre-contemplating a behaviour to maintaining the behaviour, and behavioural interventions could be designed for specific stages. However, it is not always feasible to conduct surveys to place people at different stages of the TTM.