Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

The 24 hour MyTrafficHack hackathon which began on 8^th of April and concluded on the 9^th of April had its winners announced yesterday at the recently opened ASEAN Data Analytics eXchange (ADAX) office in Bangsar South. The venue for the hackathon was also held in ADAX with 80 participants taking part in the collaborative effort from Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Grab with the support of World Bank Group and open source platforms, Carto and Mapillary.

The winning solution, Rendezous by Ng Kok Kwan which took home RM9,000 was based on the idea of using machine learning to process OpenTraffic data to help visualise insights to decision-makers and road users.

Second and third prize went to Team S.I (Joel Lee Chee Choong, Wee Vivien, Kong Ka Weng, and Tey Su Anne) for their App TravelSafe. Their idea integrates a number of variables that helps a driver take into account his/her driving risk for each route at various times. Therefore, the end result is a driving route that factors in time, money (fare) and the safety of the ride.

Whilst third winner went to Team Ditto (Kevin Loh Khai Khoon and Ho Chin Hee) for their idea App Hazard Reported which is a chatbox that allows commuters to report hazards on the road. Reports will be prioritised based on severity and impact on the traffic.

Both second and third winners took home RM6,000 and RM3,000 respectively. Both first and second winner also secured automatic entry into MDEC’s National Big App Challenge, while all three teams received a ‘personal’ Carto account valid for a year.

One of the teams, Kings of North (Syed Hazrul Izmy, Yong Seng Chia, Nicholas Lu Chee Seng) received a special citation for Best Use of Mapillary for their App – Traffic Break which deploys special scoring system for traffic corridors that uses traffic signs and objects instead of traffic flows and average speeds.

OpenTraffic Initiative Launch By Grab And MDEC

The prize giving ceremony was also the launch of the OpenTraffic initiative by Grab and MDEC with support from World Bank. The OpenTraffic initiative is a free service which provides traffic data from Grabs GPS data streams for Malaysian traffic management agencies and city planners to access and manage traffic flow.

Malaysians can look forward to decreased traffic woes as local government agencies can also use the data to enhance existing traffic management systems such as optimising traffic light control and coordination therefore easing city congestion during peak hour traffic that also helps reduces carbon emissions and saves commuters time from less traffic congestion.

The initiative which was first launched by in the Phillipines helped with lowering transport cost for commuters and improve the quality of travel time along Manila’s EDSA, the most congested corridor in the country, as well as optimizing commuting times for select barangays in Metro Manila.

Mr. Faris Hadad-Zervos, Country Manager for World Bank Group Global Knowledge and Research Hub in Malaysia, when introducing the OpenTraffic platform, noted, “By leveraging big data partnerships and open-source tools, transport agencies in both emerging and advanced economies can address urban mobility challenges more efficiently and effectively.”

Ir Dr Karl Ng, Director, Data Economy Division, MDEC said at the launch, “We are proud to work with Grab and World Bank on this initiative as this will give our young local talents the opportunity to showcase their technical skills, capabilities and knowledge. We are excited that Grab and World Bank has extended the access of the Open Traffic platform and the data generated to the Malaysian agencies. It is only practical for traffic solutions that can impact a nation to be borne from local data. We hope that initiatives such as this will help in growing and building the technology ecosystem.”

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