Following the opening of its new traffic center at the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in September, TomTom is now working with the Dutch capital on a ‘Smart City’ project.
The mapping, navigation and traffic information provider and the City of Amsterdam authorities will collaborate on the development of traffic and travel concepts to improve traffic flow and parking in the capital. Together with the City of Amsterdam, TomTom will investigate new ways to measure traffic flow, understand parking behavior, and enable city planners and inhabitants to make smarter traffic decisions.
Using the insights from TomTom’s Traffic data, the city government will now be able to make better decisions about accessibility and mobility throughout the city. As a result of the agreement, traffic measures, such as road closures in the city center, will be monitored in more detail, leading to rapid intervention if changes occur in the real-time traffic situation. The cooperation will enable TomTom to gain even more insights into the needs of a city in terms of mobility, and to further develop products to help a city’s mobility in the smartest way possible.
Deputy Mayor Pieter Litjens explained, “This cooperation will make the city of Amsterdam smarter. That’s good news for the accessibility, traffic flow and air quality in the city. For example, if your navigation system sends you straight away to a free parking spot, it’ll save you countless kilometers of pointless driving around searching for one. Thanks to TomTom’s insights, we will be able to look very specifically at the outcome of measures we take and see how effective they were. That way, we can continuously improve traffic and mobility throughout Amsterdam.”
“This agreement adds to our ambition of making smarter cities of the future a reality,” said Ralf-Peter Schäfer, VP for traffic and travel at TomTom. “Our ability to advise local authorities, as well as consumers, makes us uniquely placed to create better mobility for the City of Amsterdam. Our real-time travel information enables rapid response on changing traffic conditions, and historical travel information enables better planning, as well as an improved traffic distribution by utilizing the whole available infrastructure.”
Formally opened by the Netherlands Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment, Melanie Schultz van Haegen, the TomTom Traffic Center showcases the full portfolio of the company’s assets and capabilities in traffic and travel management. The aim of the facility is to demonstrate how its technology can help pave the way to smarter cities and smarter mobility.
The Center demonstrates TomTom’s traffic management expertise to governments, B2B and automotive licensing partners, and other stakeholders interested in how they can start planning for a smarter future. The Center shows how the company turns ‘Big Data’ into actionable insights that can help traffic managers reduce congestion for all road users and enhance mobility in cities.
