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Madison has reported a record low number of traffic fatalities this year, a milestone attributed to ongoing efforts to improve road safety. City officials highlight that while drivers play a crucial role, municipal initiatives such as enhanced lighting, better sidewalk networks and updated traffic signals have contributed to reaching this achievement. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, whose personal experience with traffic loss motivates her advocacy, underscores the city's commitment to making streets safer for everyone.
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| Innovation and Technology |
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Stellantis has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, Uber, and Foxconn to accelerate development and deployment of Level 4 autonomous vehicles for robotaxi services. Leveraging Stellantis' engineering and manufacturing strengths, the partnership will utilize NVIDIA's autonomous-driving software, Foxconn's expertise in electronics integration and Uber's operational capabilities. The initiative is structured around Stellantis' AV-Ready Platforms, ensuring scalability, safety, and reliability for future autonomous fleets.
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Beep is partnering with Karsan, ADASTEC and Damera to launch two autonomous vehicle deployments in Georgia and Florida. The projects will use Karsan's Autonomous e-JEST vehicles and Beep's AutonomOS platform, aiming to enhance multimodal connectivity and showcase innovative transportation solutions ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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Automakers are intensifying efforts to develop autonomous vehicles in response to increasing competition from tech firms such as Waymo and Baidu, says a Financial Times report. While General Motors plans to introduce a semi-autonomous driving system by 2028, Volkswagen and Stellantis are collaborating with Uber to expand an AV fleet. "Autonomy will make our roads safer," says Sterling Anderson, GM's chief product officer. "It will be the cornerstone of GM's modern portfolio going forward."
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Waymo is expanding its autonomous vehicle service, focusing on short ride-hailing trips and airport routes in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. The company has doubled its territory in the past year, with pilots in cities including New York City, Miami and Seattle. Waymo has also partnered with Uber, Lyft, Avis and DoorDash to enhance its offerings.
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Simulation has become crucial for the development of advanced driver-assistance systems, as it enables engineers to test and validate system performance under complex real-world conditions before hardware exists. Dassault Systemes' MODSIM integrates modeling and simulation from the beginning of the design process, allowing multidisciplinary teams to collaborate on a shared platform. This approach helps in addressing challenges related to radar sensor placement, environmental factors and regulatory compliance, ultimately reducing development time, cost and risk.
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| Safety Products in the News |
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Researchers have introduced PerceptNet-V2X, a framework for collaborative perception in vehicle-to-everything scenarios for autonomous vehicles. The framework features the Full Perspective View, a 2D representation of 3D point clouds that improves spatial reasoning and compatibility with detection architectures.
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Hybrid traffic lights, also known as pedestrian hybrid beacons, have been introduced across Massachusetts to boost pedestrian safety, but are confusing drivers, according to a study by the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The hybrid lights are activated by pedestrians and have a unique sequence that includes flashing and solid red lights. However, the study found that nearly a quarter of drivers run the solid red light and 65% run the flashing red light, even when pedestrians are present.
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Cities and counties are increasingly using technology such as automated speed and red-light cameras, AI and connected vehicle systems to enhance road safety. These measures are striving to reduce traffic fatalities, which remain high.
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Boston City Council is considering an ordinance to require a human operator in autonomous vehicles from companies such as Waymo. The proposal also calls for a study on the effects of AVs on employment and would prohibit self-driving cars until permitting requirements are established.
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Researchers at Coventry University examined how pedestrians interact with autonomous vehicles, especially in the context of the UK's growing adoption of self-driving technology. By observing 281 participants, the study showed that pedestrians take into account environmental and vehicle-related factors such as road gradient, weather, vehicle size and proximity before deciding to cross, and are more likely to cross in favorable conditions, such as sunny weather and when vehicles are moving uphill and are smaller and farther away. Research suggests that AVs must be designed to recognize these cues and communicate their intent more clearly to enhance pedestrian safety.
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The trade association of the leading Autonomous, Crash Avoidance and Occupant Protection automotive safety suppliers. The mission of the Automotive Safety Council is to improve the safety of people through out the world through the development, production and implementation of the latest automotive safety equipment by preventing accidents, protecting occupants and pedestrians when in a collision and to notify emergency responders after the collision when necessary. The mission utilizes voluntary, regulatory and legislative directed use of these life saving products in order to make them available to the most people in the lowest cost manner to save the most people from injuries and fatalities.
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