GPS Taxis as Information Source for Traffic Information System from Siemens

Siemens Mobility Division will be presenting a new traffic information system at the "15th World Congress on ITS 2008" in New York from November 16, 2008. The system uses the positional data of taxis transmitted via GPS to obtain information on the current traffic situation. A pilot project from Siemens in the Chinese city of Guangzhou was launched by telecom provider China Mobile at the end of August 2008. The positional data of the more than 17,000 taxis are recorded every 20 seconds and processed. The data are then made available to telecom provider China Mobile who offers them to other road users via general-access information sources such as text messaging or via its own hotline. This business model is not only of interest to China, but could be implemented in all cities currently planning similar projects.

In many Chinese cities taxi fleets are equipped with satellite-based on-board units. The original aim of this measure was to increase the safety of taxi drivers. The system signals the position of each taxi to a central coordinating and monitoring office. The taxi can be located at any time thanks to the positional data obtained via GPS. This situation is exploited by the new real-time Traffic Information Service (TIS) from Siemens. In collaboration with service provider NewCom and China Mobile, Siemens has set up a traffic information system in Guangzhou, a city in China.

Such a traffic information system as the one now being used in Guangzhou can be designed as a standalone system or can be integrated as a component into the "Concert" Sitraffic platform from Siemens.