TRL’s SCOOT 7 open data approach supports green light app development

A connected vehicle technology trial in Manchester is using open data provided by TRL Software’s SCOOT 7 traffic management software to create a demonstration app that helps drivers minimise wait times at traffic lights by telling them how long they have until the next change of lights and the optimal speed to drive at in order to minimise time spent at red lights.

KL Systems, an intelligent transport consultancy and engineering firm based on Teesside, is using the data to generate in-vehicle alerts to inform drivers how long there is to go until the next change of lights. The trial is part of a wider deployment that also examines the provision of in-vehicle messages that can instantly alert drivers to hazards on the road.

Using the SCOOT 7 data, KL Systems is able to show that live second-by-second traffic light information can be fed to vehicles without the need for additional, expensive hardware to be installed.

Although this is not the first Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) deployment, it is one of the few ones still active and providing real world benefits. “Once we had created the app for displaying the information to the driver and then successfully linked it up to interpret the data that SCOOT 7 was firing into the cloud, there was no need to instal any hardware, or take any down afterwards,” says George Brown, Founder of KL Systems. “The open data is still being transmitted, because that’s what SCOOT 7 does, and our app continues to work with it.”

“When it comes to GLOSA, the potential benefits are massive in terms of journey times, fuel savings and emission reductions, all of it realised by cutting down on the time spent at red lights,” Brown continues. “However, we’re still quite far from seeing GLOSA available to the general public, because we’d need to ensure people can use the system without getting distracted or it encouraging dangerous behaviour such as accelerating excessively to make a green light. That risk could be tackled with good system designs that would only inform the driver when they need to slow down rather than speed up,” he concludes.

“We’re super excited that KL Systems has been able to capitalise on our open-data philosophy,” says Subu Kamal, Head of Product at TRL Software. “We strongly believe that open data drives innovation and liberates legacy-locked industries. There is no better evidence to support this view than KL Systems’ innovative solution, which drives down costs while providing a better end-user experience. It’s also fantastic that it is being done on the ground, in one of the UK’s biggest and most progressive cities.”