Skip to main content

New consortium leads smart city initiative for Exeter

Exeter City Council and Devon County Council, working with a consortium led by IT services provider NTT Data, have unveiled a ground-breaking, two-year intelligent transport project for the area. Through the project, the group aims to identify solutions that will alleviate traffic congestion in and around Exeter, an historic city in the county of Devon, in south-west England. NTT Data will lead the consortium of traffic experts and specialist providers including Imtech Traffic & Infra, Vaisala, the Unive
December 10, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Exeter City Council and Devon County Council, working with a consortium led by IT services provider NTT Data, have unveiled a ground-breaking, two-year intelligent transport project for the area. Through the project, the group aims to identify solutions that will alleviate traffic congestion in and around Exeter, an historic city in the county of Devon, in south-west England.

NTT Data will lead the consortium of traffic experts and specialist providers including 6999 Imtech Traffic & Infra, 144 Vaisala, the University of Exeter and big data specialist Black Swan.

The Engaged Smart Transport project will use real-time traffic and weather sensor data, combined with other data sources such as eyewitness and behavioural information to better understand the factors affecting people’s travel behaviour. It will reveal where and why congestion happens and identify solutions to address these problems. The consortium has been awarded match funding by Innovate, the UK Government’s innovation agency.

Exeter is setting out a growth plan for the city that will deliver 12,000 new homes, 60 hectares of new business land and 40,000 square metres of new retail space by 2026. Increased population and commuter movement will add to pressures on infrastructure and public transport services. Exeter has a central population of 120,000 that already experiences daily congestion as well as one-off spikes caused by events.

The consortium believes that understanding how existing road capacity can be managed more effectively is critical for Exeter to deliver this growth. Taking an innovative approach to the use of existing and new data from a range of sources such as sensor technology, social media feedback and the latest traffic algorithm technology, the Engaged Smart Transport project will deliver insight into population movement and provide answers to real-world traffic issues.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Arup picks 8 ways ITS can save the planet
    January 6, 2022
    The solutions we need to accelerate carbon-free transport are known, available and ready to be deployed. Tim Gammons from Arup explains what the ITS industry can do now to help…
  • Intelligent parking drone technology wins Siemens’ contest
    January 16, 2015
    His daily quest to find a parking space gave Amir Ehsani Zonouz, a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA, the incentive to look for an effective solution, leading to him winning the inaugural Siemens Mobility IDEA (Improving Design and Engineering for All) Contest. Zonouz proposed using quadcopters, or drones, which can quickly find unoccupied parking spaces, identify the shortest path to the closest free spot and immediately guide the driver to the space using a mobile app or direct
  • Alstom-led consortium to deliver driverless light metro system to Montreal
    April 17, 2018
    An Alstom-led consortium has joined forces with Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec subsidiary DCPQ Infra to deliver an automatic and driverless light metro system for the Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM) project in Montreal, Canada. Alstom will introduce train and signalling solutions to help maximise system reliability, performance, capacity and passenger experience. The consortium, called Groupe des Partenaires pour la Mobilité des Montréalais (Groupe PMM), is also working with Surveyer Nenniger
  • Opinion: With e-scooters sharing is caring
    April 25, 2022
    Micromobility use is expanding: Voi’s Matthew Pencharz explains why lawmakers need to catch up with the growth of e-scooters in particular and the implications for safety