Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Inrix Gets New Competition, From Google

Kirkland-based Inrix, which uses road sensors, GPS data from commercial fleets, and other data sources to provide traffic information to its customers, has a new competitor today: Google. Google said it has added a new feature to its Google Maps software which is deriving traffic speeds and data from cell phone users using its service. According to Google, it is using GPS data derived from cell phones to report back speeds and live traffic conditions to its service, which it displays on its mapping products. That technology is similar to one of the methods used by Inrix, which pulls data from commercial fleets and in-car GPS and navigation systems to populate its own traffic information network, which it then sells to companies like Microsoft for their own traffic mapping features.