We are excited to share that the UK ALTEN Lab members have been declared winners of the 2022 Open Source Mobility Hackathon!

The event was organised by the ZF Group on the 5th-7th of January. It lasted 48 hours and entailed an abundance of brainstorming, programming, and intense discussions. A total of one hundred and seventy participants from twenty countries registered for the virtual programming competition that took place during the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, one of the most influential tech events in the world.

The ZF Group is a global technology company supplying systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and industrial technology, enabling the next generation of mobility.

During this year’s Hackathon, the teams were asked to solve one of four challenges. The UK ALTEN Lab team chose ‘Challenge 3- Open Data, Sustainability and Smart Cities’.

The question proposed was ‘How could combined mobility data help cities and authorities to control the mobility and traffic in a more sustainable way?’ The challenge was based on developing a solution around Open Data sources that help cities to become more sustainable and smarter.

UK ALTEN Lab’s idea, titled “Emergencies in Smart Cities,” aims to reduce the time it takes for emergency vehicles to reach the scene of an incident through the automated control of traffic signals and other infrastructure adjustments.

The team solved the challenge of mobility by designing a prototype of an intelligent traffic light system. The system prioritised Emergency vehicles along its predefined route without hampering the flow of traffic.

Based on a combination of open-source elements such as Traci (Traffic Control Interface), SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility) and Open Street Map, the feasibility demonstrator submitted by the UK ALTEN Lab impressed the ZF jury primarily for its compatibility with ZF’s Zero Accident strategy, as well as the combined use of V2I (Vehicle 2 Infrastructure) and V2V (Vehicle 2 Vehicle). Its potential to deliver true benefit to mobility users through faster emergency response times was a further major factor in the decision.

“We were thrilled to participate in this hackathon. It was an intense 48 hours, but enormous fun for everyone involved to tackle challenges that have real-world applications! Through it, we got the chance to learn new technologies ourselves and apply them to themes we hadn’t come across before. We’re hugely proud of what the team achieved and looking forward to how it can be developed in the future!” Samuel Fletcher, UK ALTEN Lab Manager.  

While the competition was fierce, only one team could win the first prize of $10,000 plus additional ZF support to help commercialise their idea.

Congratulations to Samuel Fletcher, Nick Solly (Head of UK ALTEN Lab), and the team of 8 also including members from Brazil, Hong Kong, India and Kenya. We are very proud of their achievement!

If you want to know more about the project, watch Samuel Fletcher talk you through the team’s winning idea: