A new source is emerging in the challenge of understanding mobility which promises to provide richer, more accurate and more timely data. This data is directly from cars connected to the internet via high speed mobile networks and can deliver greatly improved fidelity for many sectors such as traffic management, road safety, retail intelligence amongst a plethora of other use cases now made possible. I've rounded up the top five ways that connected car data outperforms mobile data:

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1.     Precision

More traditional mobility data sources such as mobile phones or telematics dongles suffer from connectivity issues which affect data precision. Whereas a clear view of an open sky typically gives a positioning error radius of 4.9 metres for basic mobile phones and similar devices, being in a pocket or under the dashboard plugged into the OBD port degrades this significantly and is further worsened near to buildings or under tree cover. Connected Vehicle Data (CVD) GPS devices have antennas on the outside of the car, always giving the best possible reception. Through additional inclusion of differential GPS and other assistance technologies, Wejo data achieves a precision of under 3 metres 95% of the time.

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2.     Accuracy

CVD is a single source dataset. This means there is little to no inconsistency between data from different vehicles and, importantly, guarantees that the source is a car. Mobile phone data has to be classified by transport mode which can lead to inaccuracy such as pedestrians being counted in slow-moving traffic or occupants of a bus appearing to indicate congestion. Wejo data is always from private vehicle fleets, representing the most realistic view of where and how vehicles are moving.

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3.     Frequency and latency

Traffic conditions on busy road networks can change in a matter of seconds. Decision makers need a reliable and low-latency source of information in order to respond in a timely manner through update of traffic signals. Wejo delivers data with an update interval of 3 seconds and latency under a minute, and usually less. Consumers of Wejo data streaming products receive up to 400 billion datapoints per month. This granular view of road conditions empowers controllers with new ways to optimise network utilisation.

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4.     Sensors

CVD is generated and transmitted by the car. This enables access to a wide range of sensors present in modern automobiles that serve to provide a multitude of insights not possible from mobile phone data. This includes but certainly is not limited to details such as vehicle occupancy counts, use of windscreen wipers, trunk access, emergency braking, and cornering force. Having this kind of data enables previously impossible capabilities around road conditions, driving safety, HOV lane usage, attendance levels, and more only limited by imagination and need.

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5.     Intelligence

With data holdings stretching back almost 3 years, Wejo performs historical analysis to enable prediction and forecasting with great accuracy. Anomaly detection can notify of abnormal conditions within seconds, including even identification of lane blockages. Wejo road segmentation permits fine-grained visibility of many measures such as flow speed, congestion level, queue lengths, weather conditions, and more with new metrics being made available on a regular basis. Wejo is able to deliver traffic intelligence data for all 50 states with better than 95% road network coverage and over a range of time periods down to sub-hour for the best possible detail.

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Want to learn more about the differences between connected car data and traditional mobility data sources? We delve deep into the topic in our free on-demand webinar, you can watch it here.