Mobility Technologies, Wayne, Pa., is providing its new voice recognition traffic service to selected consumers in the Philadelphia area during a pilot phase.

Called Traffic Pulse Voice, it is a speech recognition application that enables users to obtain personalized real-time traffic updates -- including point-to-point travel times, advisories and incidents along major roadways -- from any cellular or regular phone at any location. This is the company's first mobile application available for consumer use that is completely voice activated. A commercial application is also planned.
The system uses voice prompts. Users specify the highway they're traveling on and provide entry and exit points to receive travel times plus details about accidents, disabled vehicles or activities that affect their route.
Information is derived from the firm's Digital Traffic Pulse radar and acoustic sensor network deployed at roadside along Philadelphia's key highways including I-95, I-76 and I-476. Data is refreshed at 60-second intervals to provide continual traffic updates and is supplemented by incidents and events reported by the company's Operations Center in Wayne.
"Our research has shown that consumers want accurate, on-demand traffic information that tells a person how long it'll take to get from point A to point B," said John Collins, Vice President of Intelligent Transportation Solutions and Telematics for Mobility Technologies. "The challenge to Mobility Technologies was to design a telematics application that can be used by people on the go. Traffic Pulse Voice accomplishes that, since it does not require expensive on-board units or special connectivity. A simple cell phone handles it, even though the data can be fed to virtually any digital on-board device as well."
The company is offering free trial subscriptions (at www.trafficpulse.com) to a limited number of participants during its pilot phase in Philadelphia. Participants will have the option of subscribing to the service, along with the general public, when it is officially launched. Pittsburgh will soon be the second market to receive Traffic Pulse Voice.
Mobility Technologies' Digital Traffic Pulse sensor network continually measures traffic flow along major highways, providing motorists with actual speeds, point-to-point travel times and traffic congestion data.
Enterprise software applications deliver mobility solutions to fleets, mobile workforces and engineering users. Traffic information for 13 major markets is distributed on its interactive Web site at www.traffic.com and featured on select radio and TV broadcasts through its nationwide Traffic Pulse Networks.