Not only in Uganda, but globally, governments, institutions, innovators, and developers are designing technology and other related solutions that can help fight the increasing numbers of traffic congestion in cities.
Earlier this year, the Ugandan Police announced it was seeking 7 billion UGX (roughly USD$ 2 million) in the 2017/2018 financial year to develop a mobile application that will track down motorists who commit traffic offences and defaulters on paying fines under the express penalty scheme.
During the media press briefing, Rogers Muhirwa; the undersecretary at the Uganda police in a press statement said that the application would also receive all data relating to a particular vehicles from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) once the vehicle registration number is entered in.
**This might be under development….
As we wait for the Uganda Police application, developers in Uganda have begun rolling out innovative solutions that can help reduce the traffic congestion in city. In September this year, Great Minds; developers behind the Traffic App launched their android application to allow road users share and know real time traffic updates to easily get around the city.[related-posts]
As we continue to adpot to the Traffica App, four university students from Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU) have developed and Android mobile application dubbed Transport XL that will help motorists monitor traffic flow and also be in position to indicate available parking spaces in the city.
The university took it to their Twitter page to share the excitement of their students; Kenneth Twesigye, Collins Abitekaniza – who are pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Albert Emurwon, and Stella Nawula – pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and Technology.
#UTAMU students have designed a mobile #application to help motorists monitor flow in the city & indicate available parking spaces @KCCAUG pic.twitter.com/W7HGwdcnfj
— UTAMU (@utamu_uni) October 11, 2017
Even though the application isn’t available for download as yet, the app was birthed during the ACIA Smart Transport Hackathon; where Team Sonnet emerged winners walking away with USD$500. The 2-day competition organized in close partnership with Makerere University School of Public Health; Resilient AfricaNetwork (RAN) was held at the Kampala Serena Hotel as part of UCC’s annual innovation awards – with the main aim of reducing road accidents in the country as well as better transport.
The students representing UTAMU under TechBuzz hub; an incubation hub that is focused on strengthening and attracting more partners ready to improve the social and economic position of Ugandans today – told New Vision that they were inspired to develop the application because of the chaos in the city characterized by congestion, limited parking spaces, variation in parking traffic, and car thefts.
The mobile application is said to be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) compatible with handsets that support GPS (Global Positioning Systems). However, the app to work, there needs to be security cameras installed around the city – which now might be a huge problem since the city has got limited security cameras installed.[related-posts]
