Commercial hyperloop moves a step closer in Italy

HyperloopTT Webuild Leonardo

Transportation and technology company HyperloopTT is forming a joint venture that could lead to the construction of the world’s first commercial hyperloop system in Italy. It is collaborating with Italian-based industrial companies Webuild and Leonardo to study the feasibility of a hyperloop operating prototype named Hyper Transfer to carry cargo and passengers. Commercial hyperloop system HyperloopTT reports that Hyper Transfer will aim to be the world’s first operational commercial hyperloop system connecting a section between Venice-Mestre and Padua in Italy. In June of 2023, the consortium called Hyper Builders, won…

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Smart city in Georgia pilots robot underground delivery

podzemní autonomní robotický doručovací systém Pipedream

Peachtree Corners – one of the nation’s first smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G – today launched the world’s first below-ground autonomous robot delivery system with Pipedream, the underground logistics network that is revolutionizing the way goods are delivered. The new delivery system is bringing consumers unprecedented convenience through faster, autonomous, efficient and cost-effective transportation channels. Peachtree Corners is the first city to launch and install the underground logistics solution, helping in the shared mission to eliminate emissions and congestion issues that plague current delivery infrastructure. The…

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Vancouver Airport uses lidar to improve passenger happiness

airport airplane

Vancouver International Airport is using 3D lidar to analyse footfall and passenger journeys and improve user “happiness”. The 3D lidar sensor and advanced perception software solution, Q-Track, YVR, is enabling the airport to identify, classify, and track people and objects for enhanced operational insights. Queue analysis and people-counting Prior to Quanergy’s deployment, YVR had employed a number of camera-based and 3D stereoscopic sensor solutions to provide queue analysis and people-counting in several areas around the airport. But it said the airport still struggled to gather accurate data due to restricted…

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Neom announces investments in future land and sea travel

Neom Regent coast

Neom, the smart, regional greenfield development being built in Saudi Arabia, which includes The Line smart city, has announced investments in both autonomous vehicles and electric sea gliders. It will invest $100m through the Neom Investment Fund (NIF), into Pony.ai, a global autonomous driving company. Additionally, a joint venture will be established for autonomous technology solutions for the region. NIF has also closed an investment into Regent, the US-based electric seaglider manufacturer. It makes Neom the largest single contributor in Regent’s series A round, enabling the company to take its…

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EHang gains world-first eVTOL certification in China

EHang EH216-S Type Certification

Urban air mobility (UAM) technology platform company EHang Holdings has announced it has received the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s type certificate (TC) for its EH216-S passenger-carrying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. The TC demonstrates that the model design fully complies with CAAC’s safety standards and airworthiness requirements, and that the EH216-S is qualified for conducting passenger-carrying UAV commercial operations. Unmanned electric vertical take-off The CAAC formally accepted EHang’s EH216-S TC application in January 2021 and EHang claims it has obtained the world’s first TC for unmanned electric vertical take-off…

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Is this the future of express freight?

HyperloopTT Express Freight

Transportation and technology licensing company HyperloopTT has unveiled details of HyperloopTT Express Freight, its new innovative freight transport capsule system. The system has been illustrated in this animated video. The system was designed in collaboration with design consultancy Tangerine and is based on four key drivers: loading freight as fast as possible; integrating with existing infrastructure; maximising freight volume inside capsules; and being flexible enough to cater to different customer demands. Hyperloop feasibility study In HyperloopTT’s Great Lakes Hyperloop Feasibility Study from 2020 conducted by the firm Transportation Economics Management,…

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Bolt and Starship partner for robot deliveries

Starship Technologies Bolt

Autonomous delivery services company Starship Technologies has announced a partnership with European mobility super-app Bolt. The companies say the partnership “opens the door” to thousands of robots doing Bolt Food deliveries across multiple countries later this year. Multimodal options The announcement coincides with Starship celebrating what it claims is an industry milestone, become the first company to complete five million autonomous commercial deliveries around the world. Bolt has more than 100 million customers in some 45 countries and 500 cities, including in Europe, Africa, West Asia and Latin America. The…

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Neom and Volocopter complete electric taxi flights in Saudi

NEOM Volocopter eVTOL

Neom, the smart and sustainable regional development in northwest Saudi Arabia, and the urban air mobility (UAM) firm Volocopter, have announced successful completion of a series of air taxi test flights. According to Neom, this marks the first time an eVTol (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft has received a special flight authorisation and performed test flights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Electric UAM ecosystem The flight test campaign lasted over a week and built on 18 months of collaboration between Neom, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA),…

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UK council partners for robot grocery delivery service

Robots Wakefield Co-op Starship Technologies

UK supermarket group the Co-op has announced it is extending its autonomous robot delivery service to Wakefield, offering deliveries to 13,000 residents in the west Yorkshire town. Wakefield Council has partnered with the Co-op and Starship Technologies to offer the service to Outwood’s residents. Food delivery app Residents in some 6,500 households can place orders through the Starship food delivery app, which will be picked fresh from the local Co-op store on Meadow Vale, Outwood, and delivered in minutes. The launch of the service in Wakefield continues the expansion of…

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Full-size electric seaglider mock-up unveiled by Regent

Viceroy 12-passenger seaglider

Regent has unveiled a full-scale mock-up of its electric seaglider, which is slated for flight-testing in 2024. It has also announced plans to expand its global headquarters in Rhode Island to include up to 600,000 square feet of new manufacturing and test facilities to begin fulfilling $8bn in commercial orders by mid-decade. All electric, zero emission vehicles Regent seagliders are a new category of maritime vehicle that combines the high speed of an airplane with the low operating cost of a boat. These all-electric, zero-emission vessels operate exclusively over water…

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EHang conducts first autonomous passenger flight over Japan

The electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), the EH216

The electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft flew along the coastline of Tanoura Beach in Oita city, carrying two passengers and without a pilot. Urban air mobility (UAM) technology platform provider EHang has completed its first passenger-carrying autonomous flight demonstration in Japan. The electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), the EH216, flew along the coastline of Tanoura Beach in Oita city. Autonomous air mobility In July 2022, EH216 completed Japan’s first eVTOL point-to-point demonstration flight for air mobility in Oita City, Oita Prefecture. EHang and its partner, Okayama Kurashiki…

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AI traffic counter enables citizen science data projects

Telraam S2 multimodal traffic counting device

Telraam has released its upgraded S2 multimodal traffic counting device, which can be used in citizen science data projects to improve urban mobility and planning. The latest iteration is easier to install and uses artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT) technology to count cars, vans, bikes, pedestrians and more. Monitor street mobility The Telraam S2 camera device was designed in Belgium and built in the EU to help address the need for affordable devices that monitor street mobility in more locations than would be possible with traditional counting…

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Hyperloop transportation companies form industry association

Hyperloop transportation companies

A group of seven hyperloop companies have come together to form the first global association for the new, high-speed form of transportation. Hardt, Hyperloop One, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Nevomo, TransPod, Swisspod Technologies, and Zeleros Hyperloop Association have signed a constitutive act to create The Hyperloop Association. Hyperloop transportation Hyperloop transportation systems consist of an autonomous, fully electric pod levitating and travelling at high speeds in a low-pressure environment. Hyperloop will significantly cut journey times of passengers and cargo between cities and countries and will be more energy efficient and sustainable…

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Micromobility alliance publishes incident data on e-scooters

2021 Incidents with personal damage on shared e-scooters in Europe

Micro-Mobility for Europe (MMfE), the EU association of shared micromobility providers, is releasing incident data involving shared e-scooters in Europe. The aggregated data is based on the usage of e-scooters from its six founding members of Bird, Bolt, Dott, Lime, Tier and Voi. Road safety policies The association has published a factsheet of the data and hopes such transparency will inform road safety policies that reduce incident risks for vulnerable road users, such as e-scooter riders, cyclists, pedestrians, in close collaboration with EU and local authorities. Based on over 240…

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Strategic alliance to deploy EV chargers in Latin America

Blink Charging Latin America

Blink Charging has announced a collaborative agreement with Citybest, a transport mobility app, to deploy electric vehicle (EV) chargers in Latin America and help advance the EV charging ecosystem in the region. Initially, 70 EV chargers are scheduled for installation through this alliance in Mexico and Chile to help meet driver demands – according to Americas Market Intelligence data more than one million electric vehicles will be sold in LatAm by 2030. Free charging Through the agreement with Citybest, Blink will install 50 Blink MQ 200 chargers at hotel chains…

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