High-tech network may ease traffic woes
While there is plenty of on-line information about traffic flows, accidents, bus locations and transit scheduling, pulling it together and delivering it to the car driver or bus rider hasn’t been done well.
But that may change in early 1996, when several hundred Puget Sound commuters will use an existing FM wireless messaging network to plan their trips. “A transmitter will broadcast continuously updated messages to commuters carrying portable, information-displaying computers and pagers, and to special in-vehicle radio receivers,” explains UW Technical Communication Chair Mark Haselkorn.
The $7.5 million test project has UW faculty and staff writing software to distill on-line traffic information. Motorists will be able to check actual traffic conditions before leaving home and adjust their route as conditions change. Riders on Metro Transit will be able to find out the current location of their bus and its arrival time.
The project, called SWIFT, is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation, with the participation of Delco Electronics, Etak Inc., IBM, Metro Traffic Control and Seiko Communications Systems.