Velodyne’s Intelligent Infrastructure Solution (IIS) won in the Smart Cities, Transportation & Delivery category at the South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals. The SXSW Innovation Awards recognise and celebrate the most exciting tech developments in the connected world. The Smart Cities, Transportation & Delivery category honours innovations in eco-friendly or sustainable energy; transport; delivery, and Internet of Everything (IoE) technology.
Velodyne were recognised for their exemplary innovation; their IIS delivers traffic monitoring and analytics to improve road safety; traffic efficiency, and air quality. The system will help cities to plan for smarter, safer transportation systems. The concept is deployed in pilots under way in the U.S. states of Texas; Florida; Nevada; California; New Jersey, and Missouri, as well as in Canada. Among these is one in Austin, Texas— home of SXSW—where the city is using IIS to assess traffic conditions and identify proactive safety measures to help save lives. By improving traffic flow and reducing congestion, IIS will improve energy efficiency and reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well. A first benchmarking implementation is now taking place at Rüsselheim, Germany, near Opel’s headquarters (image).
Velodyne chief marketing officer Sally Frykman says “The SXSW Innovation Award provides further validation for the breakthrough capabilities of Velodyne’s IIS in solving traffic and safety challenges. We are working with cities like Austin to help them achieve their Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries. IIS allows cities like Austin to implement street improvements, policy changes and educational efforts that will protect vulnerable road users. IIS advances Velodyne’s mission of creating smart technologies for a world in motion and their vision of science in service of safety”.
Smooth, well-managed traffic flow is a key element to reduce negative impacts on society—time spent in traffic jams as well as pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Though not directly linked to vehicle equipment, this initiative can broadly contribute to the benefit of society.
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