Skip to main content

Bluetooth technology to shorten travel times

A new traffic app recently launched in Adelaide, South Australia, is helping drivers avoid roadworks and traffic jams with real-time updates. AddInsight taps into more than 400 of Adelaide’s state-of-the-art Bluetooth receivers, which monitor the city’s road network in real-time and broadcasts verbal messages to drivers in about approaching delays through a vehicle’s hands free systems and mobile phones. The free app has been released at a time when the South Australian capital’s road network has been
April 20, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A new traffic app recently launched in Adelaide, South Australia, is helping drivers avoid roadworks and traffic jams with real-time updates.

AddInsight taps into more than 400 of Adelaide’s state-of-the-art Bluetooth receivers, which monitor the city’s road network in real-time and broadcasts verbal messages to drivers in about approaching delays through a vehicle’s hands free systems and mobile phones.

The free app has been released at a time when the South Australian capital’s road network has been plagued with disruptions caused by major infrastructure improvements such as new freeways and building projects.

Travel times determined using the information from the Bluetooth beacons are also broadcast on more than 47 electronic signs around metropolitan Adelaide to help motorists choose their fastest route.

The Bluetooth data allows traffic control centres to change traffic signals immediately in response to incidents such as crashes.

South Australian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan said the unique traffic app would help shorten travel time. “The AddInsight app is like having a personal navigator in your car, giving you information in advance about hazards or delays ahead, so you can avoid them by finding an alternative route,” he said.

Related Content

  • Olympic challenges in Sochi
    May 27, 2014
    Sporting events always create problems for traffic planners and none more so than the Winter Olympics. It is difficult to think of more diametrically opposite challenges for transport planners than the 2012 Olympics in London and this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi: from a summer event in the heart of a megacity with well established transport infrastructure to winter games with unpredictable weather and events in remote and mountainous locations. The Winter Games are always a challenge and Sochi was no di
  • Calls for road pricing to fix Australia’s congestion
    November 16, 2015
    According to a report by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) claims the rising costs of congestion in Australia’s major cities underscores the case for real road pricing reform, says Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA). Updating a similar report from 2007, the traffic and congestion cost trends for Australian capital cities report puts congestion costs for society as a whole in 2015 at US$11.7 billion. IPA believes this will rise to US$36 billion in 2030 if noth
  • Instant messaging for Manchester’s motorists
    January 27, 2015
    Transport for Greater Manchester has installed variable message signs (VMS) on some of the city’s busiest roads to provide motorists with live traffic information. Eight VMS are now fully operational on roads across the region, displaying live journey time estimates and details of road traffic incidents and disruption. A further 19 signs are expected to be operational by the end of March 2015. Each sign is carefully located near to a key decision point, such as the intersection of a main route, a park
  • Boston partners with traffic app Waze on traffic management
    February 17, 2015
    Boston, US, has formed a new data-sharing partnership with Google-owned traffic app Waze, to enable the city’s drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to check real time traffic conditions on Boston’s streets. The partnership aims to help improve traffic flow in Boston in two principal ways. As part of the partnership, the City will share information on expected road closures with the 400,000 users of Waze in Greater Boston, helping them find the best way to get around town. In addition, aggregated information o