The UK government on Wednesday gave the green light for driverless cars to roll out on public roads for testing from next year. Business secretary Vince Cable announced a £10 million fund for driverless car researchers.“The excellence of our scientists and engineers has established the UK as a pioneer in the development of driverless vehicles through pilot projects,” he said. “Today’s announcement will see driverless cars take to our streets in less than six months, putting us at the forefront of this transformational technology.” Three cities will be selected to host driverless car trials, with each test to last between 18 and 36 months starting in January 2015.Ministers have also launched a review to look at current road regulations to establish how the UK can remain at the forefront of driverless car technology and ensure there is an appropriate regime for testing such cars in the country. Two areas of driverless technology will be covered in the review: cars with a qualified driver who can take over control of the driverless vehicle and fully autonomous vehicles where there is no driver. “Driverless cars have huge potential to transform the UK’s transport network -they could improve safety , reduce congestion and lower emissions, particularly CO2,“ said transport minister Claire Perry . “We are determined to ensure driverless cars can fulfil this potential.“ Science minister Greg Clark said UK was brilliantly placed to lead the world in driverless technology . “It combines our strengths in cars, satellites, big data and urban design,“ said Clark.

Currently , autonomous vehicles are only allowed on private roads, with the change in laws bringing UK in line with countries such as Japan, Singapore and Germany . In America, driverless cars have been tested on public roads for months, with Google’s driverless cars racking up more than 300,000 miles in California alone.

Scientists from Oxford University are in advanced stages of testing the first driverless car on UK roads. The vehicle, a modified BAE Wildcat military jeep, will be programmed with a three-dimensional map of routes around Oxford. The robotic car uses a series of sensors, including cameras and lasers, to calculate its exact location. It can sense the presence of other vehicles on the road and take avoiding action if necessary , something that driverless cars equipped with GPS-based technology have been unable to do.

Source-http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/

Senior PWD engineers said DMRC had the technical expertise to run a modern mass transit system in the Capital and operate it successfully.

“We have written to the Delhi Metro that we will need its help to prepare the detailed project report and execute the project. We will prepare the ground for them,” a senior PWD engineer said.

A DMRC spokesperson, however, said they were yet to receive any official communication.

Senior Delhi government officials said the decision to involve Delhi Metro in the project was taken in a meeting headed by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. Sources said the L-G is taking keen interest in the project and has put it on the fast lane.

Re-introducing trams is a part of Delhi government’s ambitious Shahjahanabad re-development project to bring back the lost glory of the Walled City. Trams were a popular mode of public transport for almost 55 years between 1908 and 1963. The bigger plan is to have a tram network of about 20-kilometers in the walled city – as it did in the first half of the 20th century – with the government planning to run it on a three-kilometre route from Esplanade Road (near Red Fort crossing) to Sadar Bazar in first phase.

“To start with, we have started putting all external cables and wires underground from Fatehpuri to Esplanade Road. Once it is done we will take the second carriageway. We will also build 15-metre wide lane which will have the space for trams and pedestrians. The other side will have two carriageways for local traffic, non-motorised vehicles and emergency vehicles,” a senior PWD engineer said.

Source-http://paper.hindustantimes.com/

 Without public transport, Delhi may never be able to address its twin problems of air pollution and traffic congestion. But it has failed to meet its massive demand for buses simply because there aren’t enough depots.Millennium Park Bus Depot where 800 buses are parked will be moved in the wake of a high court order to relocate it from Yamuna riverbed. Meanwhile, Delhi Integrated MultiModal Transit System doesn’t have any parking space for 1,000 buses. Delhi Development Authority has not managed to allocate any land to them yet. After Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power, the government decided in January to move the 50-acre Millennium Park depot to secure the Yamuna riverbed.“It’s a catchment area for water which cannot be meddled with,“ chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said. But now delay in providing adequate space for buses by DDA has irked a section of environmentalists. Their stand is contrary to other activists who have been pushing for the relocation of Millennium Depot.

Environmentalist Sunita Narain feels bus depots should be prioritized over other issues. “The Millennium Bus De pot should not be shifted. A bus depot is needed; adverse impacts on the riverbed can be mitigated,“ she said. DDA has identified three places in Rohini Sector 4, Karkardooma and Institute of Driving Training and Research in Sarai Kale Khan. But relocation has been taking very long.

DTC officials claim that developing infrastructure in these three newly-allotted areas will mean massive investment in terms of both money and time.

Meanwhile, DIMTS has not been able to procure 1,000 air conditioned and non-air conditioned cluster buses as DDA hasn’t allocated any land to them.

“They have been promising it but nothing has been handed to us even though buses should be a priority . It’s time we should start looking at multilevel parking options for buses.
Delhi should also pay attention to safe infrastructure for bus stops and traffic calming measures near them,“ an official from DIMTS said.

DDA claims it doesn’t have enough land for bus depots.
“Allocating land to DTC for relocating Millennium Depot is taking long as we have to change land use. As for more land for DIMTS, we can only look for small patches of land–not big ones,“ a senior DDA official said.

Anumita Roychowdhury of CSE’s Clean Air Programme said, “It’s a very serious problem. Delhi has to find a way to share depot space efficiently and develop infrastructure like some depots in Bangalore so that more buses can be accommodated in them. We also need to explore efficient parking structures,“ she said.