iTECH: ‘I See Traffic In Your Future’ Software Predicts Congestion Location and Severity

By Bruce Lilly, Contributing Writer

This story appears in the June/July 2013 issue of iTECH, published in the June 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

The balance of power has shifted in trucking’s battle against traffic, with the advent of software that can predict the location and severity of congestion problems.

The software has emerged from expansion and proliferation of data collection, enabling programmers to devise ever more sophisticated analytics.

The result is that products available today can give drivers and dispatchers easy access to real-time views of traffic headaches that are occurring almost anywhere.

But that’s only half of the story. The technology can also generate a historical perspective that shows how fast normal traffic will be flowing at any time of day, on any day of the year, on any road segment chosen.

“The accuracy, completeness and coverage of the data has been steadily getting better and better,” said Dave Marsh, vice president of research and development at Rand McNally. “The amount of detail that you’re seeing now is remarkable.”

For the freight transportation industry, the implications of these technological advances are huge. Fuel costs are reduced, time is saved and service levels improve when trucks are efficiently routed around traffic jams. Predictive traffic data, which arise from the historical databases, give carriers and logistics companies the ability to calculate costs and estimated time of arrival with much greater precision.

That enables drivers to spend less time tied up in traffic, and they can manage their hours of service more efficiently. Even when there’s no good way for drivers to get around clogged roads, having knowledge of what lies ahead is an advantage because they can plan accordingly. It’s better to take a break now than to be sitting on the freeway for two hours.

One of the ways that drivers can gain access to traffic data is through in- cab GPS devices, such as those from Rand McNally, Skokie, Ill. Rand McNally’s navigation devices are WiFi-equipped, which allows them to be tethered to a smart phone or mobile device that is connected to the Internet.

“We use this connection to bring truck drivers the next generation of traffic technology, which we call Traffic Everywhere,” said Marsh, who added the company is working with Kirkland, Wash.-based INRIX Inc., which provides an integrated combination of live and predictive traffic data.

For years, FM radio receivers have been used to deliver traffic data, but this method has limitations that seem severe in comparison. “One of the problems is that the FM signal can typically travel only about 50 miles or so,” said Marsh. “If you are approaching a large city and you need to make a decision about which way to go—through or around it—you might not be in the FM broadcast range yet, so you can’t get the data until it’s too late.”

The expanded geographic reach of the data can be a big help to longhaul carriers. “Traffic reporting has usually been centered on metro areas,” said Amy Krouse, Rand McNally director of public relations. “But if traffic is backed up in the middle of a long stretch of highway out in the middle of nowhere, it can cause hours of delays. With Traffic Everywhere, we can provide data on traffic incidents even in the most rural areas.”

Access to predictive data makes it possible to avoid problems even before they occur. For example, any number of public events can impact traffic. “Recently, Traffic Everywhere showed that there was going to be a Rihanna concert at 7 p.m. at the United Center in Chicago,” Marsh said. “It also showed that a road in front of the center was going to be blocked. Five years ago, you wouldn’t get that kind of detail.”

Drivers using CoPilot Truck navigation devices from ALK Technologies Inc., Princeton, N.J., also have access to real-time traffic information through a feature called ActiveTraffic. “When you deploy truck-specific navigation, traffic is, of course, a major consideration,” said Craig Fiander, vice president of marketing in North America for ALK’s Enterprise Solutions.

ALK’s ActiveTraffi c allows CoPilot users to get real-time traffic information from INRIX. Drivers can automatically calculate the fastest route to a destination and get an accurate ETA based on real-time traffic conditions. If a faster route is identified while on route, CoPilot Truck will send an alert with a preview of the alternate route.

Operations personnel can use ALK’s PC Miler to gain access to INRIX’s predictive traffic speed data. Fiander said that information is valuable for bid preparation. “Carriers and logistics providers need to look at transit times because that affects costs, pricing and on-time delivery performance,” Fiander said.

The process of bidding for lanes involves service-level agreements that include delivery times and rates for particular lanes. “In order to meet delivery-time windows, you have to know what that middle-of- the-night transit time is versus the early morning rush-hour transit time,” Fiander said. “Those differentiations are crucial.”

Another way today’s technology enables greater access to real-time information is by facilitating input from the drivers themselves. “We have over 100,000 drivers using our navigation product on a daily basis,” said Erin Cave, director of product management for Telogis Navigation at Telogis Inc., Aliso Viejo, Calif. “We get real-time messages from these drivers through a mechanism in our product called the feedback loop.”

Drivers can report on traffic incidents as they happen. “We take these data inputs, triage them, verify them and adjust our data as needed,” Cave said. “Given that these drivers are traveling all over the country, we get input about traffic from everywhere.”

Telogis Navigation is used by FFE Transportation Services Inc., Dallas, a refrigerated carrier with about 1,750 trucks that run all over the country.

“During Superstorm Sandy, we were able to get trucks where we needed to on the East Coast because we knew how to route them around all of the major closures,” said Andy Oleson, FFE director of strategic planning.

“We received regular e-mail updates from Telogis throughout the day notifying us about road closings.”

Oleson said traffic data are highly valuable for both safety and service. “The biggest benefit of using Telogis is the safety side of it,” he said.

“Having the traffic information makes the drivers more aware of what’s in front of them and more aware of where they’re going, and aware drivers are safer drivers. The traffic information doesn’t always prevent a delay, but it tells us in advance about the delay so we can talk to our customer and let them know what’s going on.”

The ability to manage routing for large fleets is one of the specialties of Esri, Redlands, Calif. “Esri brings together current traffic conditions, predictive travel time, real- time weather, real-time incidents and other information in a single intelligent map,” said Terry Bills, Esri global transportation industry manager. “This can be integrated with a customer’s CRM system and other corporate IT or business systems so that they gain a comprehensive way of managing their operations in real time.”

Esri works with all of the major providers of traffic data, including INRIX and Chicago-based HERE, a subsidiary of cellphone maker Nokia Corp., formerly named NAVTEQ.

“We partner with data providers who collect millions and millions of observations about the speed on a roadway segment,” Bills said. “The data tells us the travel time you can expect at this specific highway segment on this day of the week, this day of the year and this time of day. Making use of this predictive or historical travel time information in your routing and scheduling is one of the biggest and quickest payoffs that any company can pursue.”

Traffic-avoidance routing technology has reached new levels, but there’s still untapped potential. “As this technology advances, I think it’s going to change not just the trucking industry but also emergency response,” Bills said.

“Ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and more will make greater use of real-time and predictive traffic data.”

Within the freight-transportation industry, there remain many avenues to pursue. “The combination of improved data and high bandwidth in technology that is reasonably priced will bring new possibilities for using additional real-time information to help truckers and fleets make better decisions,” said Krouse of Rand McNally. “We’re talking about traffic today, but we could be talking about fuel pricing or any number of other things in the future that would help make their jobs easier.”