Business & Money | Wednesday 26 October, 2016 3:17 pm |

NATRANS Expo successfully concluded its second edition at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre today. The event was held under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, and Chairman of the Federal Transport Authority – Land and Maritime.

The exhibition hosted more than 1000 participants over two days of networking activities between companies displaying their latest technologies and trends in the transportation industry. NATRANS Expo featured more than 50 local and international companies from 13 countries displaying their recent innovations in the transportation industry and its related services.

Over two days, two technical conferences discussed important topics such as the UAE’s 2021 vision, the Maqta Gateway Project, Smart Infrastructure, Future of Parking, Smart Ports and Planes, prototypes of modern transport, walkability, IoT implementation and the 2030 vision. Attendees were able to listen to presentations and panel discussions with a main focus on several key issues that were addressed by a group of elite professionals in the field transportation and smart cities.    

Dr. Noura Al Dhaheri, General Manager of Maqta Gateway, said: “Our participation at NATRANS Expo for the second consecutive year comes in line with our commitment to contributing to sustainable transportation and smart cities by identifying novel methods and procedures. In the UAE, sustainability is no longer a luxury, instead it became an economically viable and preferred option for businesses, without compromising environmental standards. This is what we, at Maqta Gateway, seek to accomplish, on a daily basis.”

 

“The Maqta Gateway project was launched in 2014 to digitally facilitate and enhance the maritime trade business in Abu Dhabi; guaranteeing optimum supply chain efficiency. The environmental benefits of digital systems in our community are immense as they reduce paperwork, the number of trips needed to go to the different entities to process them, and processing time. We are pleased to be at NATRANS Expo this year and I urge the community to continue to work towards sustainability and developing smart cities through collaboration and knowledge exchange,” she concluded.

Autonomous Vehicles

Industry leaders such as NeRVe, Best Mile, Mitsubishi, Fybr, Lean Park, Omnix International and many more showcased their latest innovations and solutions at the event that aimed to offer the right combination of inter-industry collaboration and public and private sector investment that will drive growth and ultimately improve access and quality of the region’s infrastructure.

Omnix International showcased their autonomous vehicle EZ10 and gave the visitors the chance to test ride it inside the exhibition hall. Mr. Mamoun Arsan, General Manager of Omnix International said: “We believe that NATRANS Expo is the perfect venue for showcasing EZ10 and our other solutions for smart transportation and smart cities. Visitors of the show got to experience a unique form of transportation like no other in the region: the EZ10; which is a battery-powered electric vehicle that moves in both directions because it has no specific front or rear, and can run up to four hours with AC on a single charge, while without AC it can run for up to 10 hours”.

From his side, Markus Melander, CEO of a Scandinavian Startup “Vionice”, said: “Computer vision is rising technology among automated vehicles but only very few companies are implementing it for the asset management and infrastructure surveillance perspective. The future is going to be strongly automated. There is an excellent opportunity to get an introduction of future solution today at this year at Natrans Expo and in Abu Dhabi”.

Since road safety remains a major concern, Cegelec Road Dynamic Equipment, offered an innovative concept to bring a new solution to the French Ministry of the Interior: the autonomous trailer, called “ALICE” (Autonomous LIdar Concept for Enforcement).  “The autonomous trailer is an effective and necessary equipment to enhance safety road, for drivers and road workers as well. It is recognized by Authorities in France and abroad”. added Alexandre SCARLATELLA, Business Manager.

NATRANS Expo is organized by Fleming, with the support of the Federal Transport Authority Land and Maritime, the event is sponsored by Honeywell, Lean Park and KORE; with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies as the Strategic Partner. Several big players in the market will also be participating at the event, such as MASDAR City, Omnix, Fybr, Aeromobil, Mitsubishi, XRAIL, Emirates Driving Company and Tactical Partners AECOM and ATKINS.