Transportation

Transportation is ripe for new technologies to help relieve congestion, to improve safety, and to better connect people. Smart transportation uses sensors and information technology to coordinate traffic to reduce congestion often in surprising ways. For instance, in many crowded city centers as much as 30% of all traffic consists of drivers looking for parking. Tools to help drivers find parking more quickly can free up roads so other drivers can be on their way. Traffic accidents are the number two killer in Africa. Cheap GPS and sensor technology can help identify better and worse drivers to improve safety. Such technology is being used by a local motorcycle taxi company to remove bad drivers so that it can feature safety in its service. Many rural areas have poor roads that amplify the large distances in Africa. Drones are fast and direct and an increasingly cheap delivery option. But there are still hurdles in how to make it reliable and integrate with existing aviation systems.  These topics and others are being studied by researchers at KCRC.