What first comes to your mind when you are in a traffic jam? Probably a statement cursing yourself to why at all you took this route!
This happens to majority of office goers in metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai. Tier 2 cities are not far behind; Pune, Gurgaon, NOIDA, Jaipur etc do face similar problems of traffic jams.
Now imagine a text message / email that can warn you with information of traffic jams that may happen at routes you usually follow; 30-40 minutes in advance. Seems like we need a magician to predict traffic jams!
This magic is now possible with a technology which is in test phase in London, UK. I have always believed in technology and sometimes innovators come up with fantastic implementation of technology that solves big problems around us. Traffic jams have always been one such problem that needs technology assistance.
The intelligent transportation system peers into the future and receive warnings of traffic jams before they occur. It’s done by mashing-up real-time traffic data with past traffic patterns to predict congestion.
The process runs fast and accurate that can tell you 40 minutes in advance about traffic whereabouts and you may consider alternate route for the day. The initiative is a joint effort of California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT) at the University of California, Berkeley, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and IBM.
However, I am baffled as why is not GPS mashed up with the technology (real time traffic updates + past traffic data) to suggest alternate routes with smooth traffic? Hope to see this one soon.
However, I foresee this technology can work wonders to manage traffic, time, fuel and efficiency especially when implemented in populated cities of India. Let’s hope it launches in India soon.
But if everyone starts following the prediction and move to the alternate route, the traffic jam will shift there. It should only be for few selected folks :)
no matter whatever software comes up, traffic shall be part of life for Indians..we will mess up everything cos there is no driving sense in our country in any of the metro..i have lived in all the metros in India and each metro has its own driving sense which is bad, worse n worst…!!!