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Transport

Researchers hope to make cars energy efficient by measuring road conditions through your smartphone. Image credit - CROWD4ROADS
transport | environment
14 September 2017

Sensors in your smartphone could make roads greener

By combining car sharing apps with a smartphone’s ability to measure movement and vibration, researchers are hoping to make roads greener.

Spinning cylindrical sails can be used on large ships to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and propel them forward. Image credit - Norsepower
environment | transport
12 September 2017

Cleaner engines and spinning sails propel emissions reductions in big ships

A major overhaul of ship propulsion is underway to make global shipping cleaner and more energy-efficient.

Researchers are looking into smart radar and on-bike avoidance tech to prevent accidents with cyclists. Credit: CC0 Public Domain
transport
12 June 2017

Small-scale Doppler effect to help cyclists stay safe

An extremely sensitive radar that can detect when different parts of people’s bodies are moving at different speeds could help drivers avoid collisions with vulnerable road users such as cyclists.

Road traffic makes up one-fifth of the EU’s total CO2 emissions. Image credit: Pixabay/ Gellinger
transport
09 June 2017

Competing businesses cooperate to take empty trucks off our roads

Linking up empty trucks and competing businesses through trusted networks could mean less road traffic and pollution.

Motorbike or moped riders have a 12 times higher chance of dying per kilometre than car drivers, according to researchers. Credit: ‘Motor Cycle EB’ by Eric Baetscher is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
transport
30 May 2017

Two wheels closer to a safe arrival

Death doesn’t visit our roads equally. 

European Commissioner Carlos Moedas says that we need to invent, create and guide the future of connected and automated transport. Credit: Connected and Automated Driving conference
transport | ict | policy
06 April 2017

Now is the time to shape the future of transport – Commissioner Moedas

Connected and automated cars could improve road safety, pollution levels and social inclusion, but only if implemented well – and now is the time to shape the course of events, EU research commissioner Carlos Moedas told a conference in Brussels.

Dr Alexander Kröller is researching the risk that hacking and viruses pose to self-driving cars. Image courtesy of Dr Alexander Kröller
interview | transport | ict
16 March 2017

Hackers could blackmail owners of self-driving cars - Dr Alexander Kröller, TomTom

Automated vehicles have the potential to revolutionise our day-to-day lives, but these kind of cyber-physical systems are vulnerable to attack by criminals. Horizon spoke with Dr Alexander Kröller, a research manager at Dutch navigation company TomTom, to explore the risks that hacking and viruses pose to self-driving cars.

New systems will manage interactions between automated vehicles to make sure traffic flows as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Credit: Unsplash/ Pedro Gandra
transport
14 March 2017

Choreographing automated cars could save time, money and lives

If you take humans out of the driving seat, could traffic jams, accidents and high fuel bills become a thing of the past? As cars become more automated and connected, attention is turning to how to best choreograph the interaction between the tens or hundreds of automated vehicles that will one day share the same segment of Europe's road network.

Level 3 automation, where the car handles all aspects of driving with the driver on standby, is being tested in Sweden. Image courtesy of Volvo cars
transport
10 March 2017

Split-second decisions – navigating the fine line between man and machine

Today’s self-driving car isn’t exactly autonomous – the driver has to be able to take over in a pinch, and therein lies the roadblock researchers are trying to overcome.

The MV Faina cargo ship was hijacked by pirates in 2008. Image credit: ‘MV-Faina-Pirates’ by the U.S. Navy is in the pubic domain
transport | security
21 February 2017

Thermal cameras sweep the horizon as pirate scanners trialled

It looks like a standard radar screen, but the technology behind the red flashing dots that alert the crew of an ocean tanker to the presence of pirates is highly sophisticated.

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