ITS

An intelligent transportation system (ITS) for estimating travel time has been developed by the Department of Civil and Environment Engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).

The ITS’ algorithm considers adverse weather, traffic accidents, and estimated times of arrival, helping drivers to identify the best possible route to their destination.

PolyU has been assisting the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (HKSAR) government in developing real-time ITS systems, including the real-time traffic information system, Hong Kong eRouting, Hong Kong eTransport, the journey time indication system, and speed map panels.

Real-time ITS systems use various traffic data collection technologies, which can involve incompatible data types and sample sizes.

The systems usually offer average journey times and traffic speeds, without considering factors such as variations in travel time.

PolyU researchers developed an integrated algorithm that estimates real-time journey length, and optimises three kinds of traffic data, including offline travel time forecasts, automatic vehicle identification data, and real-time video.

Using the data, the system can update the journey time and / or traffic speed every two minutes.

The algorithm considers traffic network uncertainty, and offers on-time arrival probability for travellers on desktop and mobile devices.

Users can also set criterions, such as the preferred departure time or arrival time, value of time and petrol cost.

Image: PolyU introduces ITS that uses an integrated algorithm for estimating real-time travel time. Photo: courtesy of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.