BYD Co says to be in talks with several of China's smaller cities on building monorail systems to pre-empt traffic congestion spurred by rapid growth in automobile ownership.
Monorail systems are a potential 3 trillion yuan ($450 billion) market in China, based on an average 70-kilometer (43.5-mile) network in each of an estimated 300 cities, and will become a new major growth area for the company, according to Chairman Wang Chuanfu.
Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. and Indian JBM Group have decided to establish a joint venture company in India. The strategic goals of the cooperation are development, sales and service maintenance of vehicles with alternative powertrains – electric and hybrid buses – for the Indian market. The JBM Solaris joint venture will be based in Delhi NCR, India and will capitalize on the strong reputation Solaris has developed as a provider of mass city transportation solutions and on JBM’s strength in the area of design and development to suit Indian requirements.
This delivery came in addition to 143 Vectio C in September 2015, bringing the Otokar fleet to 176 units on the Malta island. While the 9-meter buses provide flexibility to manoeuvre through various Maltese roads, these new 12- meter buses are designed to carry more people and will be servicing the busiest routes. This compliments the recent increase in bus trips as part of the summer service.
Protean Electric, developing in-wheel electric drive systems, announced receiving $70 million in new funding from GO Scale Capital, Zhejiang VIE Science & Technology Co. Ltd., and Tianjin THSG Corporation. Existing investors Oak Investment Partners and GSR Ventures co-invested in Protean's equity financing round.
It is a demo of its Future Bus with CityPilot, combining connectivity, camera and radar systems and is described by Mercedes as "a milestone on the way to the autonomous city bus."
The Future Bus itself is based on the firm's 12-m (39-ft) long Citaro bus model and is powered by a 220-kW (299-hp) Mercedes-Benz OM 936 in-line six-cylinder engine. The CityPilot component is a technology platform that is layered on to the vehicle, affording it automated lane-keeping, longitudinal guidance, acceleration and braking functionalities. It builds upon the technology used by Mercedes' autonomous Actros truck.