With the aim to tackle traffic congestion in Riyadh and other Saudi cities, the Ministry of Interior, through its Public Security division, has unveiled the “Congestion Hackathon,” an initiative that seeks to foster the development of smarter cities by identifying innovative traffic solutions.
The “Hackathon,” which was launched by the Saudi Ministry of Interior in cooperation with the Saudi Authority for Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA) and other government agencies, targets technical students, programmers, and artificial intelligence engineers, and those interested in improving the transportation sector.
The initiative aims to raise awareness on traffic management and sustainable transportation habits, and to create comprehensive and sustainable urban mobility plans that balance the need for transportation with environmental concerns.
The program also seeks to benefit from big data analysis of traffic patterns, develop effective planning strategies, propose new or improved regulatory frameworks to support traffic management, and create traffic solutions that are flexible and adaptable to future changes.
The Director General of the Smart Riyadh Program at the Royal Commission for the Development of Riyadh, Maher Shirah, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the transportation sector poses a major challenge in Riyadh, as traffic congestion is the talk of the hour.
He added that this initiative will contribute to attracting innovative minds and opening the way for emerging and small companies to innovate solutions, thus promote development, whether at the level of specific region or in the entire city.
According to the latest data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the population of Riyadh reached about 8.6 million people in 2022, as the Kingdom seeks to increase the population of the capital to reach between 15 and 20 million people by 2030, in order to foster economic growth.
Shirah stated that Riyadh has made leaps in the smart cities index to rank 30th in the world.
Around 90 percent of Riyadh residents rely on private cars, while the rest depend on public transportation, according figures announced by Prince Faisal bin Ayyaf, the mayor of Riyadh Region.
