Why is it that Da Nang keeps getting all the cool toys? As if free, city-wide WIFI weren’t enough, the city has signed a deal with IBM to install a high-tech traffic management system.
Da Nang will implement the system to allow its 1 million inhabitants, especially the middle class, to easily move around the city without the need for cars.
Some features of the system include:
- Sensors embedded in the city’s roads, highways and busses to allow for the synchronization of stoplights to avoid traffic jams.
- Video screens and mobile apps to show commuters when buses will arrive and how crowded a bus will be.
According to Eric-Mark Huitema, IBM’s global smarter transportation leader, Da Nang is taking a pro-active approach to its infrastructure:
“In Europe or the US you sometimes see that public transport is laid out along historical lines based on past development. In Da Nang we base the transport grid on where people are moving, where they’re coming from and where the city is growing. The city wants to manage the problem before the problem is really there.”
IBM is also helping the city apply the same technology to Da Nang’s water system so officials can monitor and manage it to detect leaks and forecast present and future demand.
For those hoping to see a similar system in Saigon, don’t hold your breath.
Like major Chinese cities, Saigon’s size and disorganized infrastructure require a more advanced solution:
“If we talk about the largest cities - Shanghai, Beijing - they are basically beyond the point of quick ways to solve their traffic problems,” said Huitema.
Da Nang, as usual, is a step ahead in the tech game.
[Quartz]
