HERE has partnered Murata Manufacturing to provide the City of Jakarta in Indonesia with a new road congestion monitoring system. The two companies have developed a traffic counter system designed to improve traffic management in one of Asia’s largest cities.

Jakarta is notorious for traffic jams. According to Jakarta Police, commuters lost around 30 minutes per trip. in 2022 due to traffic jams. This equals an estimated USD 4.5 billion in lost output.

The collaboration between HERE and Murata has paved the way for a smarter and more sustainable traffic management for the city of Jakarta. By integrating map and traffic data from HERE with Murata’s traffic counter system that uses LiDAR technology, city authorities in Jakarta now have improved insights into traffic patterns – including real-time traffic data such as vehicle count, classification, flow direction and speed; peak traffic hours and popular travel routes – to monitor and predict city traffic.

The traffic management system is also capable of measuring environmental conditions such as predicting rain based on carbon dioxide and atmospheric pressure sensors to identify areas that could be/or are flooded or impassable. This allows for a better visualisation and management of road traffic, including changing traffic light cycles depending on traffic conditions to reduce traffic bottlenecks in the city’s busiest corridors and minimise accidents.

Hiroaki Tsumori, Project Manager of Traffic Counter Business, Murata Manufacturing said, “We are excited to collaborate with HERE on this digital transformation initiative to alleviate traffic congestion in Jakarta. Prior to this partnership, we were simply overlaying traffic data onto a digitised map. However, our partnership with HERE has paved the way for a smarter, data-driven traffic management solution that can now tackle a broader spectrum of transportation challenges in Indonesia’s capital.”

Murata and HERE were able to build a traffic management model that not only analyses traffic issues in Jakarta from various angles, but also provides commuters with efficient travel routes that avoid traffic congestions, reduce fuel consumption and in-turn lower carbon emissions.

As the capabilities continue to evolve, city officials in Jakarta are looking to incorporate predictive analytics that leverages historical traffic data to proactively suggest optimal routes before a traffic congestion occurs. There are also plans to further integrate this system with Indonesia’s smart city initiatives, connecting it with traffic lights management and parking systems, as well as with public transportation networks.

Takashi Eda, Country Manager for Japan at HERE Technologies said, “This strategic partnership between HERE and Murata reflects both companies’ commitment to transforming urban and smart mobility through technology. We are delighted to partner with Murata to provide insights and data that has proven valuable to enhancing traffic visualisation and management in Jakarta. Together with Murata, we look forward to taking this success beyond Indonesia and contributing to a more sustainable and efficient transportation system to more cities around the world.”