New Car Nav Keeps Heavy Traffic Routes at Bay

There's a new way to steer clear from heavily congested roads. Researchers are soon to finish with the "Congestion Avoidance Dynamic Routing Engine" (CADRE). This navigation system to be implemented on cars allows the driver to see on a screen roads that have high volume of vehicles and also the best route to take by using an AI (artificial intelligence) and a special GPS.

CADRE has sensors to monitor if traffic is getting loose or worse from 5 to about 10 miles away and informs the driver of ways to avoid it. The system is a joint project of University of Portsmouth, ComSine, Smartcom Software, the Transport Research Laboratory, ViaMichelin and Hampshire County Council.

The AI tool, which can mimic human reasoning, is part of University of Portsmouth's Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) project specializing on application of AI technology in industry applications. By interpreting data based on the average speed of traffic for the day and the week, the system can predict the best alternative routes to take and even calculate more exactly the estimated travel time. More data information come from British Highways Agency for the background data needed by the AI system. Cadre continuously modifies and reinvents itself as it adapts to short- and long-term speed predictions and motorists' data. This would be available at the shops in about 18 months' time. It took 2,100 trips on Hampshire routes to provide the right info for analysis.

Daniel Brown, head of IIR, said, "At present routing can be carried out for minimum time or distance, but this can easily be extended to other criteria such as minimum cost or minimum CO2 emissions."

Further commenting on the usage of the tool, Brown opined that it would also help the driver by not helping him not to get confused whether to take an alternative route or not.

The inventing institutions envision this technology to develop further for other means of transportation: planes, boats, and trains. Here the system helps the passengers by giving them info on the right time for travel as well as the route to take.

This project came into fruition with the help of South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA). SEEDA has a role to play for the government's Innovation Platform in Intelligent Transport Systems.



Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com

About the Author

Daniel Lamb is an avid fan of prototype vehicles and likes to read about the latest cars in the market. Find out more about best car lease deals on Car Leasing Secrets