Predicting Traffic
The radio is telling me that traffic on the freeway is pretty bad right now. So, what will my commute be like in an hour? I have an appointment across the bridge in 90 minutes, so should I leave now or in 30 minutes? A company called Inrix claims to have answers to these questions.
Dr. Oliver Downs of Inrix showed off his company’s predictive traffic service. Their “dust network” collects geodata from commercial delivery trucks, service vehicles and taxis. These vehicles, which report public and anonymous data, send speed and location info to Inrix’s servers. The system can then not only provide real-time traffic data, but it can also predict future traffic scenarios. The predictions are created using Bayesian modeling.
The service also offers maps that show the traffic speed of different scenarios, travel times, collision incidents and alternate routes.
The service seems pretty innovative. They have coverage in most major cities and metro areas like New York-Newark, the SF Bay Area, and the Florida coastline North and South of Miami.
