Skip to main content

Winners of AT&T traffic safety innovation challenge announced

The winners of AT&T's Connected Intersections Challenge, a technology challenge aimed at stimulating innovative solutions to improve traffic safety on New York City streets. Forty-five teams from 13 countries and 26 states submitted their apps and wearable devices ranging from smartphone sensors, phone-to-phone communications and natural user interfaces, among other technologies. The winners include: Tug, an app that alerts pedestrians as they are about to enter an intersection; an anti-sleep alarm
October 22, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe winners of 1970 AT&T's Connected Intersections Challenge, a technology challenge aimed at stimulating innovative solutions to improve traffic safety on New York City streets.

Forty-five teams from 13 countries and 26 states submitted their apps and wearable devices ranging from smartphone sensors, phone-to-phone communications and natural user interfaces, among other technologies.

The winners include: Tug, an app that alerts pedestrians as they are about to enter an intersection; an anti-sleep alarm using a 1809 Samsung smartwatch and a smart phone to alert drivers when they are showing signs of drowsiness; RiderAlert, which scans for Bluetooth-enabled devices in traffic to alert drivers to the presence of cyclists and pedestrians; Drive Safely, an app that uses NFC technology to determine if a smartphone user is sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle and sends an auto-reply message to incoming calls and texts while the vehicle is moving; and Drowsy Detector which uses facial recognition technology to determine when a driver is getting drowsy and sends a warning followed by an alert that can be deactivated only when the driver stops.

"Today's mobile technology allows us to envision and create solutions to problems in completely new and different ways," said Marissa Shorenstein, New York State president of AT&T. "By focusing this challenge on traffic safety, AT&T hopes to spur a wave of innovation aimed at making our streets safer for all that use them. The creative solutions we see here today are just the beginning."

"New York City's Vision Zero initiative means that we need to use every tool in our arsenal to drive down traffic related fatalities and injuries. The AT&T Connected Intersections traffic safety tech challenge calls on the tech industry to try innovation as simple as the phone in your pocket to improve safety for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians alike," said Kim Wiley-Schwartz, Assistant Commissioner for Education and Outreach, New York City's Department of Transportation. "We commend these entrepreneurs and applaud the efforts of AT&T and NYU Poly to do everything they can to make the streets safer."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Smart Spanish city trials cell-based traffic management
    November 7, 2013
    David Crawford reports on an urban electronic nervous system. The northern Spanish city of Santander – historically a port - is now an emerging technology showcase attracting global attention as a prototype for a medium-sized smart city of the future. In a move to determine the optimal use of available data, it is creating a de-facto experimental laboratory for sensor and mobile phone-based urban traffic management and environmental monitoring innovations.
  • Denver making smart parking meters smarter
    May 29, 2012
    In the US state of Colorado, the Denver Public Works is installing 500 sensors in the streets in order make its smart parking meters smarter. In the 90-day test, sensors will communicate with parking meters when a space have been vacated or filled. If the lot is vacated, the meter will be reset to zero. Should the city like the results of the pilot programme, other features may be included into the system such as relaying real-time information to motorists on vacant parking spots in the city via a smartphon
  • Tolling agencies build resilience into highway operations
    August 6, 2013
    IBTTA executive director and CEO Patrick D. Jones looks at tolling’s resilience in an increasingly unpredictable and cash-strapped world. Turbulent times call for transportation agencies to move smarter. That’s why resilience and preparedness have become watchwords in every aspect of tollway operations. From having the financial resources to invest in construction, maintenance and roadway operations, to having up-to-date emergency plans and social media strategies to cope with severe weather, tolling agenci
  • Acusensus cameras find more than 800 drivers using phones in five-week trial
    November 21, 2024
    There were also 2,300 incidents of not wearing a seat belt