GM Aims to Make U.S. Roads Safer

General Motors and Inrix are collaborating on a new cloud-based initiative to make U.S. roads safer.

The project, Safety View, is described as a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based solution that allows connected GM cars to provide data on roads, vehicles and vulnerable road users to road transportation authorities.

The data has been tailored to complement the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program, and Vision Zero, a drive to eliminate fatalities or serious injuries on the road. Once received, it will allow relevant officials to gain insights into how well road safety initiatives are working and what can be done to improve them.

Explaining the project, Alan Wexler, GM senior vice president, Strategy and Innovation, said last year the company previewed GM Future Roads, the technology platform that uses analytics to create insights to help support safe roadways and communities.

“Our work with Inrix is the first product of the GM Future Roads platform as we work to proactively create digital safety solutions,” he said. “By offering a cutting-edge mobility analytics product, we’re helping public agencies make better-informed safety decisions for their communities.”

With around 15 million connected cars estimated to be on North American roads, the potential for more strategic interpretation of the data they generate than at present is obvious.

According to GM, Safety View will offer an array of specific benefits, including identification of particularly hazardous sections of road, evaluation of the impact of Vision Zero action plans and the potential to accelerate funding applications for particularly urgent requirements.

That action is needed to make American road infrastructure safer is not in question. Initial estimates suggest that around 31,720 people died in vehicle crashes in the first nine months of 2021, a rise of more than 12% compared to the same period in 2020. The data also shows that pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for about 18% of all traffic fatalities, while another 123,000 vulnerable road users were injured in roadway crashes. 

“With fatalities and injuries continuing to rise at an alarming rate in the U.S., we must change how we approach road safety, and both design and deliver new tools to combat this increase,” said Bryan Mistele, co-founder and CEO of Inrix.  “This collaboration extends Inrix IQ — our SaaS-based platform for cities and road authorities — by providing access to powerful insights about roadways to improve safety for all road users.”