Traffic alert app from Pennsylvania company launches in UK

Motorists using major highways in England can now access real-time, personalised traffic and roadway travel information on their smartphones by downloading a free app developed by Philadelphia-based Information Logistics. The Hands-Free Traffic Talker England (HFT England) app audibly broadcasts information about a motorist's specific travel route, freeing the user from the distractions of touching the phone, reading messages, or listening to irrelevant traffic alerts.
August 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Motorists using major highways in England can now access real-time, personalised traffic and roadway travel information on their smartphones by downloading a free app developed by Philadelphia-based Information Logistics. The Hands-Free Traffic Talker England (HFT England) app audibly broadcasts information about a motorist's specific travel route, freeing the user from the distractions of touching the phone, reading messages, or listening to irrelevant traffic alerts.

England's 503 Highways Agency is providing traffic information and timely advisories about all of its roadways to Information Logistics. Advisories concern lane closures, active road works, accidents, traffic congestion, and other conditions affecting travel. The Highways Agency, an Executive Agency of the United Kingdom's 1837 Department for Transport, is responsible for operating, maintaining, and improving the strategic road network of England, outside London.

"We want to allow road users to access live and targeted traffic information in a safe manner when they need it. The availability of smartphones provides a way to do just that, and the introduction of this hands-free app is really exciting, it being both iPhone and 1812 Android compatible," said Highways Agency director for traffic management Simon Sheldon-Wilson.

"Our collaboration with Information Logistics is a good example of the public and private sectors working together to provide motorists with real-time traffic news and constant updates about incidents on the network," Sheldon-Wilson added.

Information Logistics President Mary Farrell said this is the company's first overseas launch of the traffic app. "We're just very delighted that the Highways Agency saw the value that our app can deliver to motorists," Farrell said. "We like to tell people that our app moves with them, and now we can say it's moved to England. This launch represents an important breakthrough for our team here." The app is currently used in the US by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to provide location specific traffic advisories to motorists using its toll-road system.

Related Content

  • February 28, 2013
    The cloud - the future of in-car telematics?
    Fiat Chrysler product concept and infotainment director Pierpaolo Tona told the conference that the big car manufacturers need to organise their telematics approach around three key pillars – and the first one of those is people. “OEMs need to understand consumers and their needs better than they understand them themselves,” he commented. The second pillar, suggested Tona, is technology. “Technology is never for the sake of it. Choose the right technology with the right performance to fulfil every consumer’
    Read More
  • July 27, 2021
    Chris Tomlinson: 'My golden rule is have an open mind’
    The executive director of Georgia’s mobility authorities explains tolling’s place in demand management, the benefits of being mode-agnostic and how to learn from other agencies
    Read More
  • July 2, 2013
    South Carolina launches next generation 511 traveller information system
    Intelligent traffic management information solutions Iteris has launched South Carolina’s next generation 511 traveller information system, under a US$2.5 million three year contract to upgrade, operate, and maintain the State’s system awarded to Iteris in earlier this year. The next generation system includes direct integration with the Georgia 511 system, together with a range of communication channels for information dissemination, including: state-of-the-art website; mobile apps for both iOS and Androi
    Read More
  • November 1, 2016
    Connected offers free I2V connectivity
    A new system could reduce the cost of implementing I2V communications across a city to less than that for a single intersection, as Colin Sowman hears. It may seem too good to be true but US company Connected Signals is offering city authorities the equipment to provide infrastructure to vehicle (I2V) communications for free. The system enables drivers to receive information about the timing of signals they are approaching via the EnLighten smartphone app (or connected in-vehicle display).
    Read More

Highlighted Content