Creating smarter, safer and more sustainable journeys with Hotspot Intelligence, Live Traffic and Traffic Intelligence‍

Wejo Ltd, a UK-based tech firm transforming the way the world moves through connected vehicle data, announces today the launch of three new products that will significantly improve the road experience of drivers, owners and riders in the US.

‍

Drivers in the US spend 100 billion hours in their cars each year, travelling 3.2 trillion miles(1). wejo’s in-depth data and information captured in its new products, Hotspot Intelligence, Live Traffic and Traffic Intelligence highlights which roads will slow drivers down, the times of day to avoid the backstreets and which spots cause the most accidents in the US. This is achieved by:

• Real time monitoring of traffic flows with precise intersection and lane-level information which can cut journey times, fuel used and emissions.
• Providing historic traffic data to reveal patterns and trends, including the impact of events and how to avoid routes and areas based on predicted flows.
• Mapping patterns of harsh speeding and braking to identify hotspots of risky driver behavior. This can be used to highlight correlations between incidents and risky behavior hotspots and lead to changes in road features, signaling and layouts to improve safety.

‍

wejo’s partnerships in the automotive industry provide it with one of the most valuable data assets in the smart mobility industry. The company has to date curated more than 130 billion miles of data. These sets of anonymised vehicle data represent a significant portion of vehicles on the road currently in regions across the US, including 7% coverage in New York, 6% in Florida, 18% in Michigan and 11% in Texas. This enables important insights on traffic and driving trends. All vehicle data is anonymised and provided with consumer consent. The global connected vehicle market was valued at $63 billion in 2017, and is forecast to increase to $225 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 17.1% from 2018 to 2025 (2).

‍

Richard Barlow, Founder and CEO of wejo, said: “Until now drivers have had to rely on relatively basic road traffic and incident hotspot information that has given neither a comprehensive nor real-time view of what’s happening on our roads. These new wejo products are disrupting the mobility space, enabling drivers to avoid traffic and have smooth, frictionless journeys. We can now predict and pinpoint with remarkable accuracy where and when problems are going to occur, delivering an altogether better road user experience.

‍

“We have now curated more than 130 billion miles of data, which has unequivocally shown us the positive impact connected vehicles have on solving some of today’s biggest challenges facing road users. Drivers get direct benefits from sharing their connected vehicle data enabling their journeys to be faster, safer and less polluting. Together with our US partners we will revolutionise the global driving landscape and experience.”

‍

Live Traffic™ delivers a new perspective on traffic flows. wejo’s vehicle data is accurate down to intersection level, identifying which roads are congested or clear, including exactly where there is congestion and when. This new granular information empowers wejo’s customers and partners, such as departments of transport and other road safety management agencies plus traffic app developers. They can now make better informed decisions, as Live Traffic takes the guesswork out of congestion monitoring, toll road use and signalling, using speed and direction of travel to give precise traffic information, in real time.

‍

Traffic Intelligence™ enables end-users to build an accurate, historic view of traffic volumes, exposing underlying patterns in traffic data that aren’t always visible with current monitoring and measurement technology alone. It helps users understand and manage seasonal traffic trends, model travel times and plan more efficient routing during construction projects or major sports or musical events, for example. Traffic Intelligence accurately pinpoints vehicle volumes to identify genuine trends and predict behaviors. It reveals multi-type road traffic performance to reduce the time drivers spend getting to their destination.

‍

The value of wejo’s connected vehicle data insights, and these traffic products in particular, can be seen in the following case study in New Jersey investigating the impact on traffic around the MetLife stadium, home to NFL teams the New York Jets and the New York Giants, as well as host to concerts and events. The Traffic Intelligence study specifically looked at football games and music concerts in August 2019 and utilised appending historic data:

• Journeys by vehicle to Newark Liberty International Airport took 15 minutes longer than average on the day the Rolling Stones played in concert
• By leaving just 10 minutes early from the concert or an NFL game fans can avoid the worst of the local traffic congestion

New York City is the third most congested city in the world in terms of traffic and the second worst in the US after Los Angeles, which is the world’s most congested city. NYC drivers averaged 91 peak hours stuck in traffic in 2017 tying with Moscow for second place. NYC drivers spent 13% of their time sitting in congestion, of which 11% is attributed to daytime traffic(3). 

Hotspot Intelligence™ collates patterns of harsh speeding and braking, helping wejo’s customers and partners such as departments of transport and other road safety management agencies to identify correlations between driver behaviors and incident hotspots. The product enables users to better understand the contextual journeys around hotspots, identifying potential causes and mapping areas with similar driver behaviors and no pattern of incidents over a period of time. This information allows users to take informed actions, such as improving signage, signals and road layouts to make roads safer and less congested.

Not all road incidents are predictable using traditional monitoring and measurement methods alone. Hotspot Intelligence enables agencies and authorities to identify trends in risk-associated driver behaviours across both time and location. By clearly visualising speeding and braking hotspots, wejo’s insights help agencies address these challenging driving locations. 

The value of wejo’s insights, and Hotspot Intelligence in particular, can be seen in the following case study in Fort Lauderdale, Florida – highlights include:

• Over a period of a month in March – April 2019, wejo collated information from over 75,000 cars covering 3.5 million journeys in Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami
• During this time there were over 7,000 road traffic incidents
• wejo identified locations where there are issues with road conditions, layout or signage leading to harsh braking and accidents
• wejo found a strong link between harsh braking and traffic collisions, but also some locations where there is a high incidence of harsh braking yet no collisions. With this insight, end users are able to work out what road features, for example, may be preventing or causing accidents

Road agencies can use the findings to implement measures to improve driving behaviour at the intersections which will reduce the number of incidents, injuries and fatalities on Fort Lauderdale’s roads.  Fort Lauderdale is home to an estimated 165,000 people, and as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Florida around 12 million holidaymakers visit the area each year. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, in Fort Lauderdale there were more than 5,400 crashes reported in 2017; over 2,100 led to injuries, and 26 ended in fatalities.

The products are expected to be used by traffic operation centres, smart city planners, governments, local authorities, traffic analysts, highway validation units, traffic modelling experts and fleets. 

Key stats

• 95% of wejo data has a super-fast connection delivering information from vehicle source to end-user customer within 32 seconds. 
• The products have a high capture rate of 3 seconds per data point, with wejo capturing approx. 330 billion data points per month.
• wejo’s data is precise to lane-level with location data 95% accurate to within a 3-metre radius, the size of a typical car.

Source: 

(1) US Department of Transport Federal Highway Administration report published on 21 February 2017

(2) Allied Market Research report published on 27 February 2019: “Connected Car Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025”

(3) https://ny.curbed.com/2018/2/6/16979696/new-york-city-traffic-congestion-second-worst

‍

Notes to Editors

wejo interprets the way the world moves through historic and real-time data. Transforming and interpreting the rich streams of data coming from connected vehicles, wejo partnerswith ethical, like-minded companies and individuals to turn that data into insights that unlock value for consumers.

wejo is predicting more than 10 million vehicles on its platform by the year end. With the most comprehensive and trusted data, information and intelligence wejo is creating a smarter, safer, more sustainable world for all.

wejo employs more than 150 people and has offices in Tattenhall and Manchester in the UK, in San Jose, California and Austin, Texas.  

For more information and images please visit: www.wejo.com.