SBIR Phase I: The Delivery of Content-Rich Traffic Information to Improve Driver Decision Making

Intellione Technologies Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project is an investigation of the data reduction processes and human/computer interfaces necessary to deliver content-rich traffic information to travelers en route. Large volumes of traffic data, of many types and over large areas, is being gathered by public and private agencies. To be useful to a driver while traveling, this data must be reduced to small amounts of information and delivered in a way that allows easy comprehension with minimal distraction. This research proposes to analyze drivers' needs for traffic information to determine a set of task- and goal-oriented behaviors that can be improved by high-quality traffic information. The set of tasks and goals will determine information-filtering contexts that will allow the specification and bandwidth-efficient transmission of very focused traffic information to in-vehicle personal computing devices. Interface designs will be developed that present the context-specific information using available technologies. The results of this research have potentially broad impacts on society. They will drive the development of better traffic information services that truly support the decisions drivers make as they travel. Applications based on these interfaces can improve individual routing behavior, delivery fleet operations and congestion management. Traffic congestion is a growing problem in most U.S. cities. In some areas, it has become a limiting factor on economic growth. Emphasis has shifted in recent years from providing additional capacity to better utilization of the existing infrastructure. Broad dissemination of traffic information in a form suitable for making optimal routing and trip decisions allows efficiency improvements based on the decentralized decisions of many drivers. Trip modifications based on real-time traffic data can save individual drivers an estimated $3.9 billion in lost time, 225 million hours of travel time, and 340 million gallons of fuel, per year. Similar savings are possible for commercial travel, as well, through improvements in delivery routing, on-time delivery and more efficient dispatching. Many congestion management strategies used by public agencies could benefit from better interfaces between the traffic data collected and the individual drivers on the roads.