Traffic websites, with their color-coded maps of clogged streets and freeways, are good at telling commuters when congestion is already awful. But what if they could know not only where you drive, but if the route is going to be bad today, and warned you ahead of time?
A team of researchers at IBM Corp. are working on a system that would do just that.
They've combined analytics software with a network of sensors along California roads. With the help of a database of past traffic tie-ups, they say they can predict when they'll happen in the future.
IBM's program uses GPS coordinates from users' cellphones to learn their daily commutes so it can offer suggestions when those routes are clogged.