On the narrow streets of Lisbon, congestion has worsened with population growth due to the mountains and hills surrounding the city – making the task of moving goods and services around even more difficult.
Ford asked developers to reimagine urban mobility by looking at how technology and data – big data, real-time data, data integrated into systems – could streamline the process of getting people and goods around efficiently, reducing congestion and saving time and money.
Smartaxi was named the grand prize winner. Smartaxi is a smartphone app that helps taxi drivers respond to demand for cars quickly and efficiently. The app crowd-sources location data from taxi drivers to produce heat maps showing where cabs are needed and where passengers are headed – saving taxi drivers wasted time and fuel looking for fares. By using predictive analysis, Smartaxi can also help direct taxi drivers to locations in the city where demand is likely to increase over the next 24 hours – ensuring drivers have more fares and customers can find a car when they need one.
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