General Motors Co. in Detroit and INRIX Inc., a leader in mobility analytics and connected car services, today announced a collaboration to develop safety solutions to help transportation and planning agencies achieve road safety goals.
Available first in the U.S., Safety View by GM Future Roads and INRIX is a cloud-based application that provides transportation officials with critical insights using crash, vehicle, and vulnerable road user (VRU) information, in addition to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, to help prioritize and measure the effectiveness of roadway safety projects and their impact on communities.
“General Motors has outlined a vision for a world with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, and each day we take a critical step forward in turning that vision into reality,” says Alan Wexler, senior vice president, strategy and innovation, at GM.
“Last year, we previewed GM Future Roads, the technology platform born from our innovation team, which uses data analytics to create insights to help support safe roadways and communities. Our work with INRIX is the first product of the GM Future Roads platform as we work to proactively create digital safety solutions. By offering a cutting-edge mobility analytics product, we’re helping public agencies make informed safety decisions for their communities.”
Initial estimates show that approximately 31,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first nine months of 2021, up more than 12 percent compared to the same period in 2020. The data also shows this disconcerting trend has disproportionally impacted pedestrians and bicyclists, which accounted for about 18 percent of all traffic fatalities, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Another 123,000 VRUs were injured in roadway crashes. These statistics speak to the critical need for collaborative efforts that can help generate solutions that support the safety of our roads now.
“With fatalities and injuries continuing to rise at an alarming rate in the U.S., we must change how we approach road safety, and both design and deliver new tools to combat this increase,” says Bryan Mistele, cofounder and CEO of INRIX. “This collaboration extends INRIX IQ — our SaaS-based platform for cities and road authorities — by providing access to powerful insights about roadways to improve safety for all road users.”
To better understand and address the performance of the road network, transportation professionals can tap into key benefits of Safety View, including:
- Access to critical safety and demographic datasets in one cloud-based application
- Identify hazardous roadway segments through valuable insights about elements that elevate risk and prioritize those that need the most attention
- Evaluate the impact of a Vision Zero action plan with access to near real-time insights through easy-to-use visual analysis tools
- Accelerate the funding application process by providing the required datasets and analytics tools needed in one place
The recent passage of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes about $5 billion in discretionary funds as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program. This funding aims to counter the growing number of traffic incidents, including developing and executing road safety plans aimed at the goal of zero traffic-related fatalities.
GM Future Roads and INRIX provide a tool to help make data-driven decisions, maximize safety benefits of infrastructure spend, and provide insights to help support safe roadways and communities.
With nearly 15 million connected cars on U.S. and Canadian roads, General Motors believes joining forces with INRIX to make aggregated vehicle insights available to public agencies is a major step to help increase the safety of U.S. roads.
INRIX brings a deep understanding of the public sector and has a proven ability to create advanced solutions for generating insights from vehicle and device data to make mobility smarter and safer.
This new collaboration between General Motors and INRIX marks an important advancement in the mission to help local and tribal governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and other road authorities achieve their safety goals through connected vehicle data innovation.
To learn more about Safety View and how it can help make roadway networks safer, visit the product page and join INRIX and GM Future Roads “Safer Roads Start with Better Data” on May 17.
More insight on GM Future Roads is available at futureroads.gm.com.
