Industry Snippets
IVsource.net
31 August 2000

Slow but Steady with Ann Arbor's IVI Project		Yamaha Europe Invests in INRIA City-Center Transit Concept
ArvinMeritor Merger Completed		Development Continues in Danish RUF Concept for Advanced Transit
Hartford Becoming Another Contender for Guided Bus Operations		Worldwide Market for Telematics Seen Growing at Over 40%
Phoenix Transit Managers Eye French CiViS System		Sunset Crater Magnetized
Ibeo Segment Now Officially ... Sick		IV Student Exchange Underway

While all the players in Michigan were pleased to be selected by the Federal Transit Administration to develop a performance specification for rear impact warnings for transit buses, work has yet to begin.  The Ann Arbor Transit Authority is still in the process of contracting with Veridian ERIM to get the project moving.  A contract is expected within the next month.

[Top]

ArvinMeritor Merger Completed

The merger of Arvin Industries and Meritor Automotive has been completed and has resulted in ArvinMeritor, a $7.5 billion global automotive and truck supplier which began combined operations in July.  Arvin Industries is a global manufacturer of automotive components with facilities in 22 countries.  Meritor consists of two businesses: Heavy Vehicle Systems and Light Vehicle Systems.

[Top]

Hartford Becoming Another Contender for Guided Bus Operations

"At 400,000 people, Hartford doesn't have the population to justify expensive Light Rail Transit," says Dick Martinez, transit executive within the Connecticut DOT in the USA.  Instead, a 9.3 mile, twelve-station busway between New Britain and downtown Hartford is being charted.  The proposed busway would cost $80M to build and carry 15,000 people per day. 

[Top]

Phoenix Transit Managers Eye French CiViS System

Irisbus, developer of the CiViS bus rapid transit concept, has been active marketing this approach beyond Europe, where initial implementations are underway.  The CiViS approach provides for "urban insertion" into heavily developed areas through the use of narrow lanes, with electronic bus guidance if needed.  Additionally, sophisticated bus interior designs are used to emulate the rail experience (which passengers typically say they prefer).  Recently, transit managers from Phoenix, Arizona visited CiViS implementation sites in France, including the development center and test track in Lyon.  Voters in the city of Phoenix recently passed a tax initiative which gives the local transit agency significant dollars to implement new and expanded transit services.

[Top]

Ibeo Segment Now Officially ... Sick

The segment of Ibeo Corporation which provides laser scanners and other sensors for advanced driver assistance systems developments (ADAS) in Europe has been purchased recently by the German firm Sick.  Ibeo is a key supplier and partner in the European CARSENSE program, which focuses on sensor fusion and other techniques to implement ADAS for low speed environments such as urban areas and congested freeways.

[Top]

Yamaha Europe Invests in INRIA City-Center Transit Concept

A personal-rapid-transit type of public transport involving low capacity, highly flexible vehicles has caught the eye of Yamaha's Netherlands-based European research center;  they are investing development funds and providing automated vehicles for field trials at the Versailles campus of the French National Institute for Research in Information and Automation (INRIA).   An extension of the Cy-Cab concept developed by Michel Parent of INRIA, the vehicles are dual-mode (manual operation and automated operation) and carry 5-6 persons each.  The concept calls for them to operate in automatic mode in city centers, where magnetic or wire guidance paths are laid, and in manual mode in other areas.  The vehicles are managed from a central center, and can even be "called back" to docking stations in unmanned, automated mode.  Service at the INRIA campus is planned for early 2001, with the first prototype expected to be delivered to INRIA in mid-September.  The system is envisioned as a complement to mass transit, for areas where buses cannot access, or where demand is not sufficient to justify bus service. 

[Top]

Development Continues in Danish RUF Concept for Advanced Transit

Palle Jensen, inventor of the dual-mode RUF system, has enjoyed some significant successes this year.  The RUF concept calls for new-design highway vehicles which can be driven normally on public roads but also enter a unique rail-like infrastructure which can carry vehicles at high capacity and efficiency.  In additional to significant interest in his system concept from Danish political leaders, the RUF test track at Ballerup (outside Copenhagen) was opened in  June.  One RUF vehicle operates on the 25 m track, which is likely to be expanded to 200 m.  Tests conducted thus far have shown that the test vehicle can be developed into a real car with dual mode qualities. The test track is supported by several Danish Ministries (Energy, Environment and Education) and private companies such as Siemens.  RUF International consists of Palle R. Jensen and BALSLEV A/S Consulting Engineers.  Three patents cover the concept and one patent application is pending.  Additionally, an Investor Prospect has been created in  cooperation between RUF International and Ernst & Young.  But this brief description doesn't do justice to the RUF system (which means "go fast" in Danish, by the way) -- for more information, see www.ruf.dk.

[Top]

Worldwide Market for Telematics Seen Growing at Over 40%

In a new report entitled "The Worldwide Market for Car Navigation, Multimedia & Emergency-only Systems", Intex Management Services (IMS), the electronics research firm, projects that the worldwide market for Car Navigation, Multimedia & Emergency-only Systems will grow from 2.13 million units in 1999 to 12.18 million units in 2004 at a CAGR of 41.7%.  Strong growth is particularly forecast for both European and North American Markets over the period to 2004. 

In 1999, Japan was the largest market with 61.6% of worldwide shipments occurring in this region.  Autonomous navigation systems represented by far the largest product category in Japan although multimedia systems (that incorporate the navigation function) have made significant strides in the last year.  By 2004, Europe is forecast to have grown its share of the market considerably to 37.7% of shipments.  Growth factors are projected to include the acceptance of advisory systems and emergency-only systems and the widespread penetration of multimedia systems (that include navigation) into mid-sized cars.  Market growth within the latter category will be assisted by the advent of GPRS and other cellular networks that permit higher data transmission rates.  Growth in the North American market is also forecast to be driven by advisory and emergency-only systems (e.g. from OnStar) that are forecast to penetrate luxury to mid-sized cars.  Autonomous car navigation systems are forecast to continue to struggle in gaining significant penetration in the American market.

The report entitled "The Worldwide Market for Car Navigation, Multimedia and Emergency-only Systems" is available from IMS; see www.imsresearch.com.

[Top]

Sunset Crater Magnetized

In August, Arizona DOT successfully completed installation of 5 miles of 3M's magnetic pavement marking tape at their Sunset Crater test site in the northern part of the state.  This is a step in the planned test of 3M's Lane Awareness System on one snowplow (manufactured by Mack Trucks) this winter.  The Caltrans system approach (using discrete magnetic markers and a different vehicle sensor system design) will also be tested at other sites in Arizona. 

[Top]

IV Student Exchange Underway

According to Dr. Claude Largeau, Professor at the Centre de Robotique within the prestigious Ecole de Mines de Paris, they will be accepting a graduate student who has worked with Dr. Min Hong Han of Korea University.   Dr. Han's work in implementing the KAV automated vehicles is well known in the IV community (see articles in the IVsource archives). 

[Top]