18 November, 2015: During the 24th World ITMA Congress, Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) announced their partnership with the Directorate of Traffic at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) to introduce a new critical feature for Road Safety, as an integral part of the existing iTraffic mobile solution. The new feature allows users to report accidents in real-time, and sends their exact location to the needed authorities. Such a solution will help in reducing response time and unnecessary miscommunication in the midst of an accident. This will result in reaching victims faster and smarter in order to avoid fatal accident results.
The iTraffic solution is an exclusive locally developed smart app using real-time traffic data, and offering users a number of location-based services, making their journeys safer and smoother. iTraffic’s new feature for reporting accidents complements the existing methods to reporting accidents and expedites the process of resolving road crash incidents in Qatar, in a seamless manner.
The 24th World ITMA Congress was a vibrant event, which brought together enterprises, government and the general public to discuss issues related to Road Safety and health. QMIC’s role was rich during the event where they revealed their digital innovations strategy for Road Safety: RoadMap to Zero. The strategy introduced QMIC’s solutions, as well as the futuristic technologies they are working on to achieve the goal of zero fatalities from car crashes.
The Traffic Department and QMIC have a rich history of working together in the areas of strategic traffic studies, accident prevention, and public safety awareness. This new partnership is yet another step in the mission towards safer driving in Qatar, and welcomes opportunity for futuristic collaboration in the areas of Road Safety, Logistics Management, and Intelligent Transport.
Brig. Muhammad Saad Al Kharji, the Director General of the Traffic Department said, “We are eager to leverage QMIC’s iTraffic solution and see how this will create a positive impact on the process of managing incidents on Qatar’s roads. We are always seeking smart solutions from national entities in support of Qatar’s Road Safety Strategy”.
Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, Executive Director of QMIC (CEO) said, “Having active collaboration between regulatory government authorities, such as the Traffic Department, and national innovations centers, like QMIC, represents a successful model for delivering locally-engineered innovative solutions that will make a real difference in the future of Qatar’s Road Safety, across all segments. This new feature we introduced today is a significant milestone along the way of our rich RoadMap towards zero fatalities due to car crashes. Our vision towards creating an ecosystem of Smart Road Safety solutions and services goes inline with Qatar’s vision for Road Safety. We have already seen great enthusiasm from many national and governmental entities who are equally eager to be key players in this positive movement, and we proud to be the leading regional innovations center in this significant area”.
iTraffic was first released as a local traffic and navigation application that uses QMIC’s comprehensive intelligent traffic monitoring network, is becoming a major mobile location-based platform that supports the growing needs of drivers and residents in Qatar. iTraffic was originally launched in 2012, and since then has grown considerably with over 130,000 downloads. It’s available in both English and Arabic languages, on both the iTunes and Google Play stores.
About QMIC
The Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) is the first independent innovations center in the region with a focus on developing and deploying smart mobility systems and services. QMIC’s main goal is to use locally engineered innovations and knowledge to create technology-based industries that address regional challenges and grow with mega projects in Qatar and the region. Since 2009, and through its focus, on distributed sensing, data collection & management, services creation and delivery, QMIC is becoming a national leader in the area of Internet of Things (IoT). In particular, QMIC has been leading in delivering IoT platforms, and IoT solutions and services in vertical domains including Intelligent Transport, Logistics & Telematics, Road Safety and Environment. Through its offices at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), QMIC is working closely with key national partners and stakeholders to realize a market-focused innovations ecosystem in Qatar.