TomTom aims to speed up traffic by 5%

Dutch navigation device manufacturer TomTom said that it wants to cut European journey times by five per cent.

At an event for the launch of the firm’s HD Traffic 4.0 service, TomTom boss Harold Goddijn unveiled a manifesto by saying that that if only 10 per cent of the firm’s existing TomTom users were to adopt the HD Traffic service then it would reduce journey times for everyone by up to five percent.

"We’re embarking on this mission because we love driving and hate traffic, and know that millions of drivers around the world feel this way too. We genuinely believe that TomTom has a role to play in helping to reduce traffic congestion in countries all over the world," said Goddjin.

Goddjin said that the new HD Traffic system can report trouble spots to drivers within two minutes of them occuring but these are only visible to those which are using so-called connected devices. So far only one per cent are using connected devices with the rest using devices which have no Internet connection.

"We know that traffic congestion is not going to disappear completely, but we can do something significant to reduce it today," added Goddjin.

Connected devices not only obtain real time traffic information warning of trouble spots ahead but in themselves form part of the system by reporting average speeds. In addition to the firm’s range of hardware devices, TomTom sells subscriptions to HD Traffic and other add-on data sources such as safety cameras.