OptiRoutS

Project Description

Public road authorities, such as the Flemish Agency for Roads and Traffic (AWV), are worried about how GPS navigation systems in cars are affecting the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of our roads. These systems often prioritize the quickest or shortest route without considering other factors like traffic congestion or the environmental impact of driving. This can lead to more traffic and congestion on roads that can’t handle it, which is bad for society.

To address this issue, an ecosystem of traffic management intermediaries and end-user service providers is being created to guide drivers on routes to safeguard alignment with public mobility goals. However, private partners in this ecosystem face challenges in translating these goals into impactful route guidance.

The OptiRoutS project aims to address these challenges by developing a new in-car traffic management system that takes into account societal costs, like the impact on the environment and social well-being. This system will guide individual drivers along more prosocial routes using altruistic reward schemes.

The role of SMIT

SMIT will develop new reward schemes that focus on community-based, societal principles. Thus, aligning users’ individual values with those of the public (i.e., government goals & society) to increase the use of routing services with pro-societal routing.

Moreover, SMIT will aid in reaching the overarching goal to propose a new governance framework that embeds a variety of stakeholders – finding a balance between private, public, and individual needs –, and has the least barriers for implementation as well as the highest expected acceptance rate among the existing (and emerging) stakeholders.