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Uber still can't have cars in London, but it's buying a ferry on the Thames
Uber plans to rebrand London's Thames Clipper commuter service Uber Boat.
Ford's on-demand van service is running again in San Francisco
The Ford-owned on-demand commuter van company, Chariot, paused its service in San Francisco last week to fix compliance issues with the California Highway Patrol. The CHP had found that some Chariot drivers did not have required Class B licenses. The company confirmed via email that "effective Monday afternoon, service will be back on and running as regularly scheduled."
Ford's commuter van service Chariot halts operations in San Francisco
Chariot, an on-demand commuter van service owned by Ford, had to suspend it's operations in San Francisco due to compliance issues with the California Highway Patrol, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
Daihatsu Pico concept commuter EV hands-on
Using LEDs to display messages on the back of a car? Looks like we have yet another contender with the same idea, except this time all four sides get an LED panel each. The idea behind Daihatsu's Pico concept EV is that it can interact with surrounding pedestrians and drivers using messages with matching colors. For instance, the LED belt can issue a red warning on the back if a car is following too closely; or when driving past pedestrians in close proximity (think rascal scooters but with front and back seats), the belt can turn green and indicate that the car's limited to a safe top speed of 3.7mph. Other than that, the Pico's very much just a cute little EV with a driving range of up to 31 miles (with a full two-hour charge), plus a top speed of 31mph. We also dig the touchscreen console inside the car, but with just the two LED bars acting as doors, we sure hope it'll withstand a bit of rain. Video after the break. %Gallery-140615%
California carpool exemptions expire, quashing yellow-sticker envy
It looks like it's time to kiss that sweet HOV goodbye for lone California hybrid drivers. No, there hasn't been a spike in Clean Air Vehicle sticker thievery -- this time it's official. According to the California DMV, those little yellow stickers that once gave hybrid owners the right to ride solo in carpool lanes have expired, leaving some 85,000 drivers to fall in line with the rest of the state's commuters. You'll forgive us if we don't shed a tear over this announcement.
Earth Day: Lower your carbon output (and blood pressure) with Roadify
In this year's NYC Big Apps 2.0 competition, there was a lot at stake for the developers behind the 57 app submissions. Not only were they up for cash prizes, but the recognition of their efforts to leverage the city's data mine for the public good was certain to boost their profile in Silicon Alley, and possibly attract bigger investors (or customers!) to their offerings. For the grand prize winner, Roadify, the increased awareness of their commuter-support platform means big improvements: more people participating and more/better data. The service, which depends on crowdsourced reporting of available parking spaces, bus positioning and subway arrivals along with public data on transit schedules and privately-sourced data on gas or garage pricing, becomes more useful as more users are sending in their information. Roadify supports 'giving' and 'getting' parking spaces (or updating transit details) via SMS, but it's with the iPhone app that the service really shines. Users can share and check transit information, traffic conditions, gas pricing and more -- plus they can quickly find a parking spot in congested areas. Considering that New York City drivers sometimes find themselves circling and circling in the hopeless search for an open parking spot, any approach to cutting that time will save on gas, reduce pollution and make the Big Apple a happier place. If you're a frequent or occasional NYC commuter, check out the free Roadify app; you can also watch the Roadify demo video in the continuation of this post.
IBM shows off Smarter Traveler traffic prediction tool
Traffic alerts on GPS devices may be old hat at this point, but there's obviously still plenty of room for improvement, and IBM now says it's managed to do just that with its new "Smarter Traveler" traffic prediction tool. Developed with the help of UC Berkeley's transportation group and the California Department of Transportation, the tool relies on predictive analytics software, GPS monitoring and sensors already on the roads to not only offer alerts, but build a model of each person's usual commuter route. Once the system is trained a bit, commuters are able to check out what's effectively a forecast of their entire route before they even leave the house, rather than simply be alerted to traffic problems before it's too late to avoid them. Head on past for the complete press release, and a quick video explanation of how it works.
WiFi coming to Massachusetts commuter trains
It's coming to planes, so it was bound to make its way onto trains. According to a report, a 45-mile commuter railroad line in Massachusetts is about to get a WiFi upgrade, bringing wireless connections to more than 18,000 passengers across 17 stations. Utilizing Sprint's EV-DO service, this will be the largest deployment of train-based WiFi outside of Europe and will bring access to 45 coach cars in the line. "There is not one commuter rail system in the country that has this right now," said Kris Erickson, MBTA deputy chief of staff, adding, "We know there are going to be some technical glitches, but we want to get in there and test it in a real environment and get a much better idea how to do it." The plan is to eventually bless all 13 commuter lines in Massachusetts with wireless capabilities, thus allowing networked games of Sid Meier's Railroads! to actually be played while on a railroad.[Via Wi-Fi Networking News]
