Goal is to better anticipate accidents, traffic jams

The way the roads in the Las Vegas Valley are monitored is about to get a high-tech upgrade.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada and Israeli startup Waycare, a predictive analytics platform for smart cities, are launching a pilot program to help prevent crashes and alleviate traffic backup associated with those incidents.

Las Vegas will serve as the first pilot program site in the U.S. for the Waycare platform. The RTC’S traffic management center will use the platform to optimize traffic flow through the two designated pilot corridors, U.S. 95 west of Interstate 15, and I-15 south of Charleston Boulevard.

“Las Vegas was a prime spot for this pilot. It was a combination of a large city of several million people and at the same time very unpredictable behavior of both drivers and patterns of things going on,” said Noam Maital, Waycare chief executive officer. “The big reasons for that is you have over 40 million people coming to Vegas every year from out of town. The need to help optimize traffic and improve traffic safety couldn’t be greater in a city like Las Vegas, more so than almost any city in the U.S.”

Waycare’s platform mashes historical data with real-time data, including traffic light timing, major events, weather conditions, vehicle location, speeds and other factors.

“Real-time data is an unutilized asset that, with the introduction of predictive analytics, will enable cities to save lives on the road and optimize traffic management,” Maital said. “We can collect 200 times more data than the data generated by all road sensors in Las Vegas today. Our pilot program in Southern Nevada is yet another testament that it is truly one of the most innovative regions in the U.S.”

Instead of just relying on sensors, cameras and other devices to track and manage traffic systems, mainly used for incident-response purposes, Waycare’s predictive analytics