GeekWire: The future of transportation

Bryan Mistele, CEO of the Kirkland-based traffic data company INRIX, joined GeekWire’s Todd Bishop and John Cook to talk about his start-up and how the technology world is changing transportation.

INRIX collects traffic data from hundreds of vehicles around the world, providing analysis to radio and TV stations, car companies, and government agencies in 35 countries.

“We not only collect real-time information, but we also do predictive data analytics, so we’re able to take into account things like events, concerts, and all sorts of variables into account to predict traffic patterns,” says Mistele.

Mistele says his company is part of a wave of technological advancements in transportation, giving people faster traffic and transportation information over many platforms.

INRIX streams real-time information to INRIX Traffic mobile app users and customers with INRIX Traffic built into their navigation system. Even Garmin uses INRIX data as of Friday, when Garmin announced that they would be teaming up with INRIX to offer real-time traffic updates on their devices, all without an internet connection.

Technology is not just changing what information people get or how they get it, but actually changing the way people are driving and how traffic is managed.

“There’s no question that the car is already becoming the fourth or fifth screen”, says Mistele, “it’s becoming an in-car computing device with real-time information being transmitted to that car.”

Drivers are already changing their behavior based on applications that give them information about traffic patterns and even open parking spots. Tolls are now collected electronically. Some cities offer internet- or phone-based parking payment.

With better information on where people are going and how they are getting there, local governments are responding with better signal timing, congestion-based toll pricing and dynamic HOV lanes that help break up traffic build-up.

We’ll have to wait for self-driving cars, though. While Mistele estimates that futuristic robot-operated cars are more than 10 years away, he says that we can look forward to more advances in cruise control within three to five years that will make our lives much easier.

“If you’re stuck in traffic, you’ll be able to punch a button on your dashboard and it’ll use sensors to keep you moving along the flow of traffic and keep you from hitting the vehicles in front of you,” says Mistele. “Whether it’s stop-and-go traffic or you’re on a rural freeway and you basically want to cruise for the next three hours, you’ll have the sensors and the dynamic information for the car to be able to manage itself.”

Listen to the full GeekWire conversation with Bryan Mistele:


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By Jillian Raftery