Imagine a smartphone app that was like "Her" for the car — that's the idea behind Seattle-based company INRIX's newest app.
The 10-year-old company gathers real-time traffic information and provides data for the navigation system built into your car's dashboard. On March 30, the company branched out with the launch of a free app, INRIX Traffic, which uses machine-learning to understand the driver's habits and interests and plan each route accordingly.
Like popular GPS apps Google Maps or Waze, INRIX Traffic provides turn-by-turn directions to help the driver get from point A to point B. It sources traffic, accident, and construction information from government and police sources.
What makes INRIX Traffic unique is, "you can set up an account and it starts learning right away," Steve Banfield, chief marketing officer of INRIX tells Tech Insider over the phone.
The app keeps track of which locations you visit with frequency and adds them to a favorites list. It builds a log of what days out of the week you make the trip and when you like to go.
Banfield says in just days INRIX Traffic would understand, for example, that you like to stop at Dunkin' Donuts on your morning commute, and it would launch navigation without any input.
If you have an afternoon appointment in the city, INRIX Traffic is designed to notify you shortly before it's time to leave while taking traffic into account so that you reach your destination on time. It also integrates with your contacts, so users can send an estimated time of arrival to a significant other or coworker.
Eventually, when INRIX Traffic becomes integrated with the car's in-dash system, Banfield says the app will be able to recognize when fuel levels are low and add a pit stop at the gas station to your route automatically.
"It's an assistant that makes driving easier because it minimizes set-up," Banfield says. "You're not the one having to push all the buttons."
INRIX Traffic is not quite as autonomous as, say, a self-driving vehicle. But at the very least, the Android and iOS app frees up the hands for the steering wheel.
