Digitalisation of the transport system
Future Cities Insight #9 Digitalisation of the transport system
Using disruptive thinking to update and streamline classic services.
Winter is coming. With that, frost and ice on the roads. Meanwhile, traffic safety, congestion and carbon dioxide targets are major challenges for cities – today and in the future. AFRY has provided a solution to these challenges in the form of a cloud solution.
Increased connectivity in cars, means that important information about infrastructure can be instantly transferred from the cars into a cloud. Car manufacturers have provided these systems for decades, but have just recently offered these connected functions to a broader customer base. Sharing data with the road authorities, however, is rare.
A new cloud based digital solution from AFRY, in a joint venture with Volvo Cars, will now provide the Swedish Transport Administration of slippery road conditions data. One of the first initiatives in Europe to share data from vehicles in daily traffic with road authorities on a larger scale.
AFRY’s longstanding relations with Volvo Cars as well as the Swedish Transport Administration, makes us the natural enabler for the parties to explore this area.
The solution provides the Swedish Transport Administration continuous and comprehensive road data to improve winter maintenance, all the while allowing Volvo Cars to see how data from their cars strengthen traffic safety for all motorists.
All Volvo cars in Sweden fitted with Slippery Road Alert anti-skid technology and partaking in the Connected Safety function will be involved in the data collection. The friction measurements are uploaded anonymously in real time to a certain cloud solution. AFRY refines and visualizes the data through maps and diagrams delivered through a web based interface to the client.
This opens up for endless possibilities. With connected cars sharing the data with a traffic center, information about an accident can instantly reach all following vehicles, thus reducing the risk for follow-up accidents. The traffic center could potentially also direct cars in the system and effectively dissolve traffic jams.
With disruptive thinking and alliances there’s no limit to how we can further improve traffic safety and congestion problems.
