More Traffic Detail – Suna Rather Than Later

Suna has stated it will offer up more traffic information with its phase 2 roll out.

Suna Phase 2 is rolling out soon, with developer Intelematics claiming it will deliver more detailed road coverage and higher precision than is possible through its current traffic model.

It will also feature a range of improved technologies, including the integration of speed data collected from thousands of vehicles including taxis, road service vehicles, courier vans, coaches and GPS-equipped private vehicles.

This new infrastructure is expected to generate approximately one hundred million instantaneous speed measurements each month.

A new fleet of probe vehicles will help with the technology already employed by Intelematics to monitor congestion levels, which leverages sensor infrastructure associated with traffic light control systems and freeway and toll-way management systems.  By agreement with the various state authorities and private road managers, Intelematics extracts data from these systems to monitor congestion levels across metropolitan regions.

GPS probe vehicles, sometimes referred to as ‘floating vehicles’, measure their location, bearing and speed at regular intervals and then upload this information to servers using a cellular data connection. GPS data provides a highly accurate measure of travel times that provides reliable information even in dense urban road networks where less precise positioning techniques break down.

Fusing the data generated by the probe vehicles and the road sensors provides the opportunity to generate quality and coverage levels that cannot be achieved through a single technology. Integrating the data enables the automation of congestion monitoring across freeways lacking speed monitoring infrastructure and 24/7 congestion monitoring on less trafficked arterial roads even when floating vehicle data is sparse.

Suna Phase 2 is the result of a substantial investment in research and development by Intelematics Australia, which has been made possible through the support of its shareholder, Royal Automotive Club of Victoria (RACV).

Suna Traffic Channel is currently available on all the leading GPS navigation brands  penetrating more than 30 per cent of monthly sales and is well on the way to adoption as a standard automotive feature with brands including Nissan and Ford having both adopted the services. It is also widely available on smartphones.

Suna is currently available in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, monitoring more than 12,500 kilometres of roads in major metropolitan areas.