The I-95 Corridor Coalition, which includes Virginia among 16 states, has signed a contract with Kirkland, Wash.-based INRIX, to provide travel time and speed data on a network of U.S. highways and arterials for the purpose of contributing to interstate movement along the I-95 Corridor.
According to an INREX press release, the company’s Smart Dust Network and INRIX Traffic Fusion Engine will aggregate and blend traffic data from a variety of sources, including more 750,000 GPS-enabled vehicles and traditional road sensors. The I-95 Corridor Coalition initiative is the largest implementation of real-time traffic flow data sharing across a multi-state region and the first multi-state project leveraging GPS vehicle probes and traditional road sensor information.
The initiative is just one example of what the Kaine administration is doing to leverage technology to improve the flow of traffic, Aneesh Chopra, Virginia’s Secretary of Technology, told the Greater Richmond Technology Council this morning. “We want to put information into the hands of folks so they can make better judgments about where to drive.”
Chopra made the remarks while introducing Jim Buczkowski, director of electrical systems engineering for Ford Motor Company. Buczkowski then outlined Ford’s initiative to convert automobiles into mobile computing platforms capable of handling everything from Ford’s new voice-activated Sync technology to GPS navigation. I’ll have more to say about Bucskowski’s comments in the e-zine Monday.
