Two Israeli companies, Waycare and Waze, have formed a two-way data-sharing partnership that will enable cities and public agencies to communicate directly with vehicles on the road and to harness real-time in-vehicle data for advanced traffic management operations.
The partnership will combine Waycare’s cloud-based traffic management platform with data from Waze’s real-time crowdsourced traffic and navigation app, which is powered by the world’s largest community of drivers.
Waycare’s cloud-based platform uses in-vehicle information and municipal traffic data to provide cities with predictive insights and proactive traffic management optimization. Real-time anonymized crowdsourced information from Waze app users (Wazers) will now be integrated and aggregated into the Waycare platform and shared between both parties. The partnership will enable cities to communicate back with drivers and warn of dangerous roads, hazards and incidents ahead.
Waycare’s platform enables municipalities to capitalize on the enormous amount of data coming from various transportation modes, including connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), to improve traffic safety and proactively manage the city’s roads. The system analyzes and synthesizes the data with proprietary deep learning technologies for predictive insights and proactive traffic management optimization.
This layer of artificial intelligence (AI) provides the city with the tools to conduct data-driven traffic management decisions. Waycare’s cloud-based system is intended for various public agencies such as Traffic Operations, Traffic Engineering, Law Enforcement, Emergency Services, and Freeway Service Patrol, enabling seamless cross-agency communication, efficient incident mitigation, and resource allocation.
Waycare launched its first project in Southern Nevada with the RTC (Regional Transportation Commission), NDOT (Nevada Department of Transportation) and NHP (Nevada Highway patrol), back in October 2017 and has since kicked-off projects in Florida, Delaware and California.
The new data-sharing partnership is part of Waze’s Connected Citizens Program (CCP), which has grown rapidly over the course of a few years and now includes 600 partners globally. The program helps cities unlock anonymized crowdsourced driver data, enabling municipalities to act on that data in concert with their existing traffic infrastructure to improve traffic safety and traffic flow. As Waycare and Waze’s collaboration continues to grow, cities will benefit from improved access to in-vehicle data and be able to transmit information back to drivers in real time to better inform them and improve traffic flow and safety.
“This partnership showcases how driver communities can benefit from interacting with municipal traffic organizations, who hold vital traffic information,” explained Noam Maital, CEO of Waycare. “Our partnership with Waze will further enable municipalities using our traffic management platform to unlock critical operational insights to improve traffic flow and traffic safety.”
Adam Fried, Waze’s global partnerships manager, commented, “Cities everywhere are undergoing a massive transportation revolution, and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of this movement with our Connected Citizens Program. We’re excited to partner with Waycare to empower even more municipalities with powerful data insights that will help them make informed planning decisions and improve existing city infrastructure.”
