Traffic Congestion Costs Commuters Valuable Time And Has A Heavy Economic Cost, Costing $120 Billion A Year – Is This Company's A.I. The Solution?

Renowned engineer and historian Henry Petroski recently released a book detailing the actual cost of poor infrastructure in the United States. According to Petroski, traffic congestion and the associated delays cost the U.S. economy over $120 billion annually. Another study showed that in 2022, U.S. traffic congestion resulted in the average driver spending 51 hours in traffic, equating to approximately $869 in lost time and increased pollution. Additionally, the average driver paid $134 more for fuel in 2022 than in 2021. 

Many analysts promote the power of investing in new infrastructure and maintenance programs. Improving roadways has a multiplier effect: with less traffic congestion, the economy would be stimulated as logistics and workers move more swiftly between places. In other words, the economic gains from solutions would potentially be far more significant than the costs. However, very few legacy concrete and steel infrastructure companies are equipped to advance American roadways efficiently. 

Rekor Systems REKR, an A.I. roadway intelligence company, is one of the few players that could be up to the task. Rekor is an AI-driven data company that uses its roadway intelligence engine, Rekor OneTM, to ingest billions of data points from multiple sources to transform data into insights that can be used to improve transportation systems into safer, more efficient, and smarter roadways. Rekor obtains data from third-party data sources like GPS, crowd-sourced information, Bluetooth, proprietary data capture and existing infrastructure information – and then leverages proprietary AI, machine learning and deep learning algorithms to transform those data points into insight within Rekor One. These insights are then delivered to customers within tailored software platforms that meet customer missions, allowing customers to make the best decisions through digital infrastructure investment.

The company's proprietary data capture devices use an IoT node that can be installed in a few hours and provide valuable insight into traffic patterns that are instrumental in making decisions from urban planning and design to roadway enforcement. Rekor and its proprietary systems could be well-positioned to provide city, state and federal agencies with the necessary data and analytics to respond to incidents on the roadway, reduce traffic, study greenhouse, and smog conditions, understand roadway wear and tear, track electric vehicle adoption and distribution, and much more. The company's advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, and IoT Edge devices look to create a unique opportunity for continuous operational learning that can help determine infrastructure budgets, safety measures, and transportation management.

The company has already seen success in studies contracted by various states nationwide. In March 2023, the company was awarded a multiyear contract valued at over $1.8 million by the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT)  to provide data services for the agency's roadway network. On April 19, 2023, Rekor was awarded $14.15 million in new multiyear contracts for state-wide traffic count and classification studies for the South Carolina and Florida DOTs. Rekor's systems can provide vehicle classification, counts and ground truth studies that help determine the actual figure of mobility – which helps decrease congestion. 

Rekor has seen gross revenue increase 108% in the first quarter of 2023 when compared to 2022's figures. Robert A. Berman, CEO of Rekor, attributes the company's growth to the demand from state and federal agencies to fix broken systems and the company's instrumental role in infrastructure progress. Berman shared, "Rekor Discover is poised to meet this demand head-on by offering highly accurate, always-operational count, class, and speed capabilities that can be implemented without any safety and operational drawbacks plaguing the existing systems. By deploying our cutting-edge A.I. solution, we provide unparalleled accuracy in data collection and become the crucial Internet of Things (IoT) nodes that form the backbone of a robust roadway operating system. The future of roadway data collection and analysis lies in Rekor Discover."

With U.S. infrastructure clearly needing effective solutions, the demand for A.I. and digital infrastructure technology is on the rise. Accurate and detailed data is crucial in traffic studies–making enhanced AI technology critical to the future of our roads. Rekor seems poised to become the leader in the space and help decrease the economic burden of congestion across roadways. 

Featured photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash.

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