Enabling crowdsourced real-time traffic and hazard reporting as part of an ITS infrastructure, via an in-car voice-activated mobile application

Abstract

In the past few years, a lot of priority has been given to finding modern and innovative solutions which enable citizens to make smarter use of road networks while also tackling the issues that arise from old and outdated road infrastructures. This can be observed through several EU directives created over the past few years. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are systems which make use of modern information and communication technologies to improve and aid all aspects of road transport, such as traffic management, road infrastructures and traffic mobility. An example of such systems would be dynamic road signs, vehicle counting sensors and transport-related mobile applications. The use and implementation of such systems is essential to tackle high priority problems in the world such as vehicle emissions and heavy traffic congestion. The aim of this dissertation is to design and implement a crowdsourced mobile application which can be used by citizens to make reports of any traffic congestion and road hazards they encounter during a drive, and subsequently evaluating this application to see how it can contribute to an ITS infrastructure. A core feature of the mobile application is that it can be used from start to finish using specific voice commands. This eliminates the need of having a complex Graphical User Interface (GUI) and thus ensures road safety when using the application while driving – the latter being essential if this kind of crowdsourcing application is to have enough timely participation to add value to drivers and succeed. Instead, more work and research will be done to design a suitable, seamless and easy-to-use Voice User Interface (VUI), which is ideal in a scenario where users will be busy driving.