14 DAY TRIAL // Trafficmaster, a leader in the field of intelligent driving, and IBM have joined forces to analyze driver data in a more comprehensive manner to help motorists spend less time when in traffic. The SmartNav enhanced route-planning tool of Trafficmaster integrates a dynamic probe collection system that is powered by IBM software, hardware and storage. Furthermore, Trafficmaster's Geocore solution is also based on IBM technology and it deals with retrieving and processing large volumes of driver locations that need to be collected to offer access to a wide range of telematics services aimed at companies and consumers.
“Trafficmaster is able to provide drivers with real-time route planning and more accurate estimated arrival times than ever before with the help of the IBM Informix data base technology,” said Stuart Berman, executive director, Trafficmaster. “By giving drivers better information about their journeys, we are able to help reduce stress levels that drivers can encounter on the roads, especially around holiday times.”
To support the same idea, Doug Wilson, client manager, IBM UK, says that crowded transportation networks have become a widely spread issue for cities throughout the world. For example, Europe has around 300 million drivers, and traffic congestions alone cost EU about 100 billion Euros yearly. He believes that this problem is now solved in the United Kingdom by the partnership between IBM and Trafficmaster and their innovative approach to motoring, which deals with data analysis and trend unlocking for smarter journey planning. Overall, the new service is said to have a positive impact on the driver, first of all, as well as on the society as a whole and on the environment.
Trafficmaster offers its customers a large array of intelligent driving services based on its telematics technology platform and its collaboration with mobile phone carrier O2. Very large amounts of data are collected from vehicles and all the sensors spread over the motorways and trunk roads of UK and this data is used for providing services ranging from stolen vehicle tracking to fleet management and smarter route-planning.
These services currently gain more popularity among users, and a relevant example is the fact that SmartNav, the intelligent route-finding solution, comes as a standard in Citroen light commercial vehicles. This service uses live traffic information and satellite navigation to identify the available routes and to provide valid alternatives whenever traffic is congested. The information is collected through the IBM system and makes it possible for real road speeds to be recorded so that SmartNav drivers can obtain accurate estimated arrival times and time aware routing.
On the other hand, Trafficmaster has also used IBM technology for creating the On-Demand Business Mileage Reporting system that provides drivers with instant and accurate access to their mileage records through the SmartNav navigation system as well as through the Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking system. This innovation will remember all the locations of the starts and ends of any journey, the time needed to complete it and the exact traveled distance. Thus, drivers will always know where their car was at any moment in time and simply need to rate the journey as private or business mileage. Moreover, the On-Demand system has been adopted by BMW as an element of its stolen vehicle security package and comes as an option on any BMW and MINI model.
“We had a very demanding set of requirements and it was important the solution we chose would perform well. Several factors helped us choose IBM, but primarily the IBM team was prepared to go the extra mile and to show us that their database was up to the job. Now we have the 'engine' to process our valuable data, there is more potential for innovative offerings particularly in areas such as pay-as-you-drive insurance and road pricing. We are experts in vehicle data collection, and IBM has skills in bringing that data into a structured format, analysing it and delivering it – and the systems integration expertise to build applications for our clients. Together we are able to provide a very powerful offering,” Berman added.
More information can be found on Trafficmaster's website.