Oxfordshire County Council combats traffic congestion with AI

By Sam Pither

1 August 2022

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Transportation and technology concept. ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems). Mobility as a service.

iHub, Oxfordshire County Council’s research and innovation team, has completed the second phase of its ‘New Mobility’ project, which sees them partnering with Alchera Data Technologies in an attempt to reduce congestion and pollution using real-time data.

In the completed first phase of the project, research was undertaken by Alchera with control room users which then fused accessible vehicle data from TomTom with pre-existing under-road counters from Aylesbury’s CA Traffic. This highlighted unexpected traffic conditions, allowing the council’s team to respond to adverse road conditions quicker.

Phase two has seen the development of a Transport Data Exchange, which collates mobility data from the Bus Open Data Service (BODS) and its plugin ABODS (Analyse BODS), local bus companies, traffic sensors, CCTV networks, ANPR cameras and more, funded by a £1 million small business research initiative (SBRI) grant.

Alchera’s AI-powered, cloud-based software platform uses this information to provide live data on the movement of vehicles and pedestrians. Machine learning algorithms make use of existing city sensors and CCTV networks to deliver real-time data, allowing operators to create tailored city offerings.

Laura Peacock, iHub manager at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “The inclusion of accurate, real-time mobility data will become increasingly important in the operation of advanced transport systems of the future.

“It’s great to see companies like Alchera bringing exciting new technologies that will change the game; their approach has huge potential. We should expect to see some disruptive dynamic business models emerge off the back of this.”

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Traffic congestion has been recognised as a problem in the UK since the 1960s, when the ‘Traffic in Towns’ report claimed that even with the optimal amount of new roads built and public transportation utilised there would still be more cars within cities than can be accommodated.

In 2006, a government-sponsored report estimated that congestion may cost the English economy £22 billion a year in lost time by 2025. This is a problem which has only become more pressing as the effects of air pollution have come to be better understood.

The systems developed in OCC’s project will feed into a prototype system capable of offering transport data to technology development companies and the public. The work could also lead to the development of live data apps on traffic flows and patterns.

Anna Jordan, co-founder of Alchera Technologies, said: “When you are trying to deal with complex, congested cities, being able to react to situations in real-time is key. Our largest system integration combines thousands of sensor sources and performs hundreds of thousands of measurements every day.

“This represents the only demonstration of absolute, real-time traffic counts and classifications, at city scale, in the UK today. Data in the system is handled in a fully transparent and auditable way – recognising that data ownership and usage will be critical in future smart cities.”

By Sam Pither

Sam is the Regional Editor of Biz News, responsible for both Hampshire and Dorset.

A new recruit to journalism, Sam started writing for the Business Magazine as a freelancer in May of 2022 after completing his degree in English at University College London. His passion for local businesses and ability to tell a story soon caught the attention of the publication’s management team and have led to his meteoric rise.

Sam, who lives in central Reading, takes a particular interest in technology, gaming and food and drink, having been a chef before starting his degree.