What can ICT do for your commute?

There’s a type of ICT known as ITS, which stands for Intelligent Transport Systems & Services, and has a holistic view of ICT use in transport systems. It’s one more abbreviation to keep track of as the train is off towards an industry for the future!

Everyone who has a driver’s license knows how concentrated and focused you have to be in order to safely drive a car. Think of how it must feel to drive a bus in heavy, bustling city traffic. After all, a bus is as large as a small apartment, weighs ten times as much as a car, and is packed with standing passengers. Then break this down into all the split-second decisions a bus driver has to make so that you can safely reach your destination. I’ve worked as one of those bus drivers in downtown Stockholm. I’m not saying this to brag, but rather to give you a picture of how things out there really are. And because I’m very excited about an idea. The idea that many of these decisions can be transferred to automatic processes and sensors in computer networks with software designed as decision support systems. And what’s more, most of this already exists today. Not so much in buses yet, unfortunately, but to an increasing extent in the new cars manufactured by SAAB and Volvo.

Now think of how it could be if the city’s traffic signals dynamically, at each moment, adapted the flow of all the vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians according to that moment’s needs for optimization. For example, prioritizing traffic to the city in the morning, or managing traffic congestion in order to minimize carbon dioxide emissions or, if we consider another agenda, to give cyclists and pedestrians high priority.

Now let’s say you’re out driving on an icy road, and you get into a skid. Today, your car can deal with this automatically. But in the future, it would also be able to send a signal to a central system that will process the data and then immediately send an order to the closest sand and salt truck, but even more importantly, it would send a warning to the car behind you to watch out. And when you’ve stopped at the closest parking space, you’ll visit shareweather.com and file your report, which everyone on the road can access once the website has received and evaluated your information.

And actually, why is it that important for you to have to brave the streets and join the crowds? If we started thinking about the digital highway in our “daily travels” wouldn’t our everyday life change pretty quickly into something more convenient. No, I don’t think we should totally eliminate a physical workplace, but I do think that you and your boss should begin to think of thinning out some of your travel.

And let’s not forget your bananas. Look at the current situation: to get you some sliced bananas for your cereal, about 200 documents must be processed by a number of companies and government agencies, especially the Swedish Customs Department. It’s therefore a relief to find out that the Swedish Customs Department is a leader in eliminating red tape, and being able to visualize a banana’s journey free of bureaucratic abuse.

And on a final note, the United Nations estimates that in 2050 there will be as many people living in cities as today’s world population. The sidewalks of Hamngatan could be temporarily widened on lovely Saturdays in the spring, and the Förbifart Stockholm bypass could offer free flow for electrically operated trucks-on-trains on weekday evenings.

If you are curious about how you can contribute to an Intelligent Transport System for Stockholm, you’ll find I’m a real enthusiast. Write to me, and we’ll meet for coffee.

Åke Lindström, Marketing Director, Kista Science City AB