Friday, October 17, 2008

Traffic technology is all the rage in Cambridge

By Brendan Lynch

Something in the Cambridge water must be driving Cantabridgians to apply technology to traffic — that or too many trips down Memorial Drive at rush hour. CarTel, a research project at MIT, launched a new test of its car-monitoring technology last week. And nearby, the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. plans on testing a traffic-regulating technology at an intersection in Kendall Square. 

At MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, researchers Samuel Madden and Hari Balakrishnan are combining global positioning system technology, a web-based interface, an algorithm, and souped-up wi-fi to track traffic patterns in a city and calculate the fastest — but not necessarily the shortest — driving route between two points. The traffic models built on the CarTel algorithm have already helped Balakrishnan shave five or 10 minutes off his commute, according to Madden.

The system splits a city map into square segments and calculates how long it takes a car to get from one end to the other. The algorithm computes the sum of the delays in each segment to offer the best route from, for example, Route 2 to the MIT campus.

“There are 15 different ways of doing it, and everybody’s got their own opinion. You should take Mem Drive, or Mass Ave...,” Madden said.

The system is being tested on a fleet of 50 hybrid airport shuttles run by Cambridge-based PlanetTran LLC. A GPS-enabled computer device in the dashboard tracks the car’s movement. As they pass open wi-fi spots, the devices use what CarTel is calling “Quick Wi-Fi” to send the data to servers at MIT. Quick Wi-Fi operates about 30 times faster than regular wi-fi, which is important, because the car would already be somewhere else by the time regular wi-fi finished uploading the data about a certain point, Madden said.

A critical mass of 200 to 300 CarTel-ready cars will be necessary for finer, granular traffic information; but Madden said the 50 cabs are painting a reasonable picture. The researchers are also planning a mobile phone-based system, taking advantage of newer, GPS-equipped phones, said Madden, whose commute will not be among those computed. 

“I actually ride my bike to work. I’m not really a good example,” he said.

Madden and Balakrishnan have no immediate plans to commercialize CarTel, but they are talking to Ford Motor Co. about integrating the Quick Wi-Fi technology into the company’s cars. Madden also said the duo may look to partner with a GPS or online map company in the future.

Cambridge is also home to traffic-focused companies like hourly car-rental company Zipcar Inc., ridesharing social network GoLoco Inc. and parking spot finder SpotScout Inc., forming a miniature transportation technology cluster.

After meetings with Cambridge officials, Draper Lab is in the process of choosing its own data transmission method, according to its principal director of marketing and strategic business development, Len Polizzotto. Draper’s self-funded project involves placing sensors at traffic lights, rather than in cars, and uploading road data, which an algorithm would then use to direct traffic lights. The aim is to cut down on congestion, and thereby idling, leading to a more freely flowing city and a smaller carbon footprint. 

Draper expects to have data coming in from one Kendall Square traffic light by the end of the year for proof of concept, Polizzotto said.

“We want to make sure we don’t croak everything,” he said.