TomTom and Vodafone Service to Help Avoid Traffic Congestion

Leading sat-nav manufacturer TomTom and mobile operator Vodafone have developed a new service that enables drivers to estimate the level of congestion along a particular route. The system is based on a count of the number of cell phones in a given area, for example along a stretch of motorway, and allows users to avoid traffic jams and bottlenecks by providing alternate routes which bypass any problems.

Mobile phones continually send a signal back to the nearest base station, and through triangulation of these base stations, Vodafone can provide an estimate of the location of a phone. If there are, say, 300 phones along a route where there are normally only 100, it can be deduced that the road is likely to be congested. Likewise, if the phone being tracked is moving at a slower pace than is normal, it is likely that the reduction in speed is due to traffic issues. The new technology is particularly clever as it provides drivers a more accurate estimated time of arrival, and, where necessary, can calculate an alternative route with a new time of arrival.

This service is currently live in the UK and Netherlands, however TomTom and Vodaphone plan to develop the system in every Western European country, including Ireland.