Beginning in November, Sirius Satellite Radio will broadcast traffic data nationwide for 22 major U.S. metropolitan areas.

Sirius will provide drivers with updated traffic information from NAVTEQ, a company that provides digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions.
NAVTEQ Traffic is a unique data gathering, aggregation and quality-tested solution that links up-to-the minute traffic information to map data and enables wireless transmission directly to a navigation system. NAVTEQ Traffic combines data from multiple sources, including the leading commercial traffic data providers, government departments of transportation, police and emergency services, road sensors, cameras and airborne reports.
NAVTEQ Traffic aggregates available data including planned incidents (such as construction), unplanned incidents (such as accidents and disabled vehicles) and flow (speed and movement of traffic). Once received, traffic data is quality tested and linked to the map for wireless delivery to a navigation system.
The 22 metro areas that will initially receive the service are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco/Oakland, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington D.C.
Sirius expects to expand the service to over 50 cities by 2007.
The first unit to provide the new traffic data service will be the SiriusConnect SIR-ALP10T tuner, which interfaces with Alpine Electronics' new NVE-N872A Satellite Traffic Ready navigation system. This service will keep subscribers informed about potential delays or incidents along the route, including road speed and flow information, unscheduled traffic incidents, and scheduled road closures and road work.
The SiriusConnect SIR-ALP10T tuner, the first SIRIUS tuner to incorporate both audio entertainment and traffic data services, will be able to simultaneously receive and play SIRIUS' programming while monitoring the data channel for traffic messages. Through its broadcast data service, SIRIUS will deliver NAVTEQ information to the SIR-ALP10T tuner, which interfaces with the Alpine NVE-N872A Satellite Traffic Ready navigation system. The unique structure of SIRIUS' data service capabilities will allow the addition of other data services, such as weather, to be seamlessly added in the future.