Korean startup BlueSignal has developed a new smart mobility solution that can accurately predict traffic conditions and signals, from a driver’s starting point to their final destination, guiding them along the quickest and safest routes.
Much like accurate weather forecasts are used to predict meteorological conditions, BlueSignal’s futuristic platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze traffic conditions and patterns and then provide accurate traffic and journey time predictions. BlueSignal is a member company of the Born2Global Center, a major Korean government innovation agency that operates under the country’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and contributes to the national startup ecosystem. BlueSignal’s AI-based Future Traffic Forecasting Solution uses machine learning technology to collect a diverse and massive amount of traffic environment information, such as traffic volume in certain areas, traffic light systems, vehicle speeds, risks, congestion, and incidents, to provide drivers with optimized traffic data.
The solution’s most competitive feature, by far, is its prediction accuracy, which is one of the world’s best for this type of system. An assessment of BlueSignal’s traffic prediction platform, conducted by the Telecommunications Technology Association of Korea (TTA), on approximately 500 Korean roads, showed that the platform’s forecasting is 94.8% accurate. With the platform, drivers can use a navigation service or HUD (Head-Up Display) to take the safest and quickest route to their destination and avoid many of the dangerous traffic situations and/or congestion-prone areas along the way. By predicting traffic in real-time, the system also helps reduce the time drivers spend waiting at traffic lights. Ultimately, the system not only helps prevent traffic accidents, but also minimizes the social costs of traffic congestion.
BlueSignal says the system can also be used as a core technology for autonomous vehicles (AVs), as it not only predicts traffic conditions to prevent accidents, but could also enable defensive driving by predicting the possibility of accidents with nearby non-automated vehicles.
BlueSignal and its innovative technology have already been receiving international recognition. In 2016, BlueSignal won a US$5m (KRW6bn) contract with the Shenzhen Municipal Government in China for its traffic situation prediction platform, and in 2017, it became the first Korean company to receive the Judge’s Special Award at the International Intelligent Vehicle Expo, held in Beijing.
BlueSignal was also selected for Nissan’s Infiniti division’s ‘Infiniti Lab, Smart Mobility’ program and, will also soon be launching a service for Infiniti, connecting its traffic prediction/analysis platform with HUD. Currently, BlueSignal is creating business models in diverse areas, including cars, distribution, emergency/disaster care, and smart cities, for distributors in Abu Dhabi and Thailand, and Korean telecommunication companies, while also working on a membership service that will make its platform more readily available to individual consumers.
BlueSignal’s CEO Jason (Seng Tae) Baik, said, “In the movie Minority Report, the main character arrives at his destination quickly and safely in his desired timeframe by observing traffic conditions via HUD. I hope that our prediction and analysis solution can help reduce the social costs of traffic congestion and create a safer and more comfortable driving environment.”
