Analytics firm Waycare and several Nevada transportation agencies have been working together to develop an AI-led, road safety pilot program, leading to a reduction in crashes along Las Vegas’ very busy I-15 highway.
Waycare, a company based out of Silicon Valley with ties to the navigation app Waze, uses data from connected cars, road cameras, and even apps like Waze to map out an overview of the city’s roads and shares information with local authorities, helping them to improve road safety.
In 2018, Waycare struck a deal with Google-owned Waze to “enable cities to communicate back with drivers and warn of dangerous roads, hazards, and incidents ahead.” This is done through Waze’s crowdsourced data feeding into Waycare’s traffic management system, which in turn can offer more cities even more data on how to manage traffic and improve road safety.
Waycare recently wrapped up a one-year pilot program in which they worked with the Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP), Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC). RTC reported that Waycare helped the city reduce the number of primary crashes by 17% along I-15.
Waycare’s data as well as their predictive analytics, gave the traffic and safety agencies the information necessary to take the necessary preventative measures in what could be considered areas at higher risk of accidents. RTC claimed that in areas where these preventative measures were taken, 91% of drivers slowed their speed down to below 65 mph.
Waycare works simultaneously with the three safety agencies. Waycare provides them with details of when and where they predict accidents are likely to occur. RTC then uses a message board system to deliver alerts to drivers, warning them of their risky behavior. NHP also positions their vehicles in visible positions, while NDOT makes sure to place safety barriers for police officers.
“These latest statistics coupled with the fact that we are identifying accidents up to 12 minutes faster with the Waycare platform helps translate what public and private partnerships can do and that AI is working to modernize and create a better transportation system for all,” said Tina Quigley, RTC general manager.
“Traditionally, law enforcement has relied on anecdotal evidence to determine where to deploy resources to respond to traffic related issues,” said Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Solow of Nevada Highway Patrol.