Mobile phones driving traffic info

By: Drivers.com staff

Date: Wednesday, 20. February 2008

The big weakness in using navigation systems to get around traffic congestion has been that traffic information is largely limited to major roads and is often outdated by the time it gets to drivers. Try for an alternative route and you could get into a worse traffic situation.

Now TomTom, which bills itself as the "world's largest navigation solutions provider" has patented a solution " High Definition Traffic." The system is already operating in The Netherlands and TomTom plans to launch the system in the UK in the first half of 2008 and in Germany later in the year.

High Definition Traffic gathers information from the tracking of mobile phones, and the key to TomTom's new service is an exclusive agreement with Vodaphone, one of Europe's leading mobile service providers.

The Dutch-based company has already announced agreements with Vodaphone in the UK and Germany. TomTom hopes to offer the service to 50% of its European customers by the end of 2008.

However, TomTom and Vodaphone assure phone and navigation system users that the new service will not compromise their privacy since the information from phones will be gathered anonymously.