HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eindhoven, Netherlands, will be the first city in the world to implement self-driving cars for large-scale commercial use. Steven Nelemans, CEO at Amber, made the announcement this week at the Hannover Messe, in Germany.

Together with several development partners including TomTom, KPN, TNO, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and the local Dutch municipalities of Eindhoven and Helmond, Amber plans to equip electric cars currently used in their business-to-business mobility service with automated driving capabilities. Amber plans to have the self-driving cars on the road in Eindhoven by mid-2018, expanding the service rapidly from there to the rest of the Netherlands and Europe. Companies in the Eindhoven region already using the Amber service will be the first to benefit from this new technology.

The first commercial flying car in the world, by company PAL-V in Raamsdonksveer, will be sold for one day only in the Eindhoven branch of Media Markt on Wednesday, April 26th, the electronics chain announced on Tuesday, Omroep Brabant reports.

The next government needs to invest billions of euros in stimulating the technology industry in Eindhoven, according to an alliance of local companies, universities and councils, news agency ANP reported.

The Brainport Development alliance says €10.5bn is needed to boost the region and that the next government should fund the bulk of this. Representatives are in The Hague on Wednesday to outline their plans to officials, ANP said.

Ideas come from amazing places.

Last week, I attended ICF’s first European event, The Rural Summit, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. It was produced in association with the Huis van de Brabantse Kempen. That is an association of local Dutch governments in the rural region of the Kempen, which sprawls across southern Holland into Belgium.

New report focuses on building the workforce for the 21^st Century economy

(15 December 2016 – New York City) – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today released a new research report, Ladders of Opportunity: Growing and Retaining Tomorrow’s Talent. It details how Intelligent Communities create a system and structure that prepares their children and youth for the high demands and entrepreneurial opportunities of tomorrow’s workforce.  The principles of workforce development are illustrated in depth by the strategies and experiences of four Intelligent Communities in North America, Europe and Asia.  

Beginning on December 11th, the entire bus fleets of the cities of Eindhoven and Helmond in the Netherlands will be electric.

This will make the public fleets (when all 43 buses are taken together) the biggest zero-emissions bus fleet in all of Europe.

Every year in The Netherlands, Eindhoven turns into a vibrant open-air museum of light. The Glow Festival is a free public event that displays illuminated artworks throughout city parks, street alleys, and public buildings.

In 2011, Eindhoven was selected by ICF as the Intelligent Community of the Year. It is globally renowned for its smart mobility efforts. It includes a diverse set of mobility options for its citizens including a unique raised “hovering” bicycle roundabout and street lighting and traffic signals dedicated to bicycles throughout the city and region. The city centre also includes a significant pedestrian area. Eindhoven’s Automotive Technology Centre involves over 125 organizations in collaborative projects ranging from start-up of new high-tech mobility systems to ICT companies, stimulated by being involved with the region’s incubators. The Centre for Automotive Research in the Auto Campus has had a driverless bus, called Phileas, navigate parts of Eindhoven since the late 1990s. As a smart mobility bus rapid transit system, it is intended to deliver tram-like public transport at a very low cost because of low maintenance, lack of rails, no overhead lines and the ability to recharge the battery by means of electromagnetic induction. It has had commercial success in places like Korea, Turkey and Israel. More recently, WePods are being experimented within neighbouring towns on public roads.

Eindhoven University of Technology and Celonis announce a strategic alliance and join forces in several working groups on different key topics in the field of Process Mining. The aim is to leverage the optimal combination of world class academic and practical experience in order to work on the Process Mining of tomorrow.

If you're creatively minded and looking to push the boundaries of electric vehicle technologies, there are more than a few ways to do it. You could build an 18-rotor personal flying machine, for example, or whip up some electric off-road rollerblades. Or you could develop a pair of electric motorbikes and then ride them all the way around the world. This was the challenge taken up by a group of 23 students from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, who have today rolled into town bringing a momentous 80-day journey to an end.