Calling All Cars: Cell Phone Networks and the Future of Traffic

Jeremiah Dunn

OverviewIntroductionMobile MilleniumGoalComplexity of the ProblemGathering DataData FusionModeling the Flow of TrafficMobile CenturyConclusion

IntroductionFixation of humanity on futuristic cars &

autonomous travel has drastically changed the modern car.

While not quite going in that direction, cheap sensors and network availability are essentially boosting the “brainpower” of our driving environment.

Between road-side sensors, dashboard GPS, and Smart phones many companies are provided with traffic data collection.

Mobile MilleniumStarted in 2007One of the first large-scale projects for traffic

monitoringRun by Nokia, NAVTEQ, and UC Berkeley

Only able to be conceived and work thanks to the rise of the “smart-phone” thanks to embedded GPS

GoalMerge road-side sensor networks with

smartphone GPS feedback to generate a real-time traffic monitoring situation.

Complexity of the Solution

Gathering DataVTLs (Virtual Trip Lines): to prevent constant

packet transfer, the phone will only upload statistics when it crosses a “checkpoint” along the VTLs.

Data FusionIncoming data from many sources

GPS Buses Taxis Cars

Static Sensors Loop Detectors RFID tag readers

GPS may have faulty DataWalkers/Parked/etc

Modeling the Flow of TrafficObvious way to think about modeling traffic

is by individual carsDesigned a new set of algorithms based on

fluid mechanics

Mobile CenturyAll this data collection culminated in 2008 in

a test100 Cars mixed in a 10-mile stretch in Norther

California10 Hours and accounted for 2-5% of the cars

on the highwayMobile Millinum vs Google Maps w/ Traffic

Noticed a sudden red blotch appeared on the test stretch, but it took several minutes to appear on Google’s system.

ConclusionWas able to detect and report a slow-down in

under a minuteProved that only a few cars were needed to

get the system to run efficiently (2-5%)Successful test has led to the concept and

technology demonstrated to become widespread into Google’s mobile Maps app.

Proved that the mobile scene was better performed than any static detector system.