Siemens technologist says data crunching and Internet of Things could beat traffic congestion
As traffic congestion creates a headache for drivers in every city, and rapid urbanisation makes the situation worse, city leaders in the UAE have been urged to crunch data and come up with answers.
Afzal Mohammed, vice president of Internet of Things (IoT) technology and innovation at Siemens, told the Urban and Rural Development Forum at Expo 2020 Dubai that data had to be put to work to beat the challenges raised as more people take to the roads.
“Governments need to harness technology based on purpose and need,” he said.
“But it has to be a collective effort, including input from private entities and citizens, too.
“With open-data platforms, governments can implement policies by making use of data that is available and in turn, make it purposeful for humanity.”
IoT devices, many of which can be found in vehicles, are embedded with sensors, processing abilities, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the internet or other communications networks.
Mr Mohammed said cities in the Philippines and US were tackling peak-hour traffic in partnership with taxis and navigation applications.
In 2015, the US city of Boston established a data-sharing partnership with the Google-owned navigation application Waze to help improve traffic flow.
Waze users can monitor real-time traffic on their smartphones, ask the app to show alternative routes, and report traffic, construction projects, and police speed-monitoring locations.
The city then uses the Waze data to improve the flow of traffic and provide traffic alerts to the app’s users.
Waze’s traffic data is used to help adjust Boston’s 550 signalled intersections at the city’s Traffic Management Centre, which also shares information on road closures with Waze users in real time.
In New York City, HubCab was launched several years ago and today tracks more than 170 million taxi trips a year.
With ever-increasing availability of real-time urban data streams, the transport authorities can see precisely where, how, and at what times different parts of the city become heavily congested.
By using the technology, New York’s transport authorities can unravel the complexity of its travel patterns and identify how to reduce the social and environmental costs of transport.
In the Philippines’ Cebu City and Metro Manila, the authorities launched an Open Traffic platform several years ago that optimises the timings of traffic signals at peak hours.
This is done using satellite data from the smartphones of drivers for the taxi-hailing app Grab.
The programme has helped to address traffic congestion and road safety challenges through the use of big data and has allowed traffic management agencies to manage traffic flows better.