Urban landscapes are transforming and cities more than ever must focus their efforts on challenges such as optimizing power and transport, improving the quality of life for their citizens, as well as making the city itself attractive for businesses and tourists both. Linked to all of this is the idea of digital technology, which is a driver supporting the transformation of the city. At the head of this digital transformation is Orange and its newly reveal Smart Cities program, the goal of which is to operate and integrate the service of local authorities and city stakeholders to develop partnerships in the fragmented ecosystem of networking to create a unified city network with the ability to exploit data and propose dematerialized mobile services. Orange is looking to use its relationships with local authorities and global contacts to provide this Smart Cities service, which it views as a global solution.
Orange’s program to transform cities has five central points. The first is to improve mobility within cities by making traffic more fluid with connected cars. Orange is working with the automobile industry to create on-board entertainment and security services in automobiles that will be capable of giving real-time information about traffic jams and carpooling services to lessen the amount of cars on the road and make the driving experience more convenient for drivers. They’ve also formed a partnership with Streetline in France, which would inform drivers of the number of parking spaces in a given lot and guide them to the empty spaces. Additionally, anonymous statistical data gathered through the mobile network it would implement would allow Orange to predict and report traffic conditions as well as share them with drivers.
The second point of the Smart Cities strategy involves encouraging the use of public transport by making the communication and information services between public transport and the end users more convenient. Orange is developing public transport services based on real time information, connectivity, and e-ticketing which can be utilized through a passenger’s Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled smart device.
Read the full article here: Orange Unveils Smart Cities Strategy
