A NEW 'experimental' website that tracks cars, bikes and people across Oxford in real-time has been launched by Oxfordshire County Council.

Cyclists, pedestrians, motorists and bus users can use the site to see how traffic is moving around the city using the brand new technology.

The website – Oxbike.co.uk – displays live maps that show the number of cyclists and other road users at cycling hotspots in the city.

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People can also check live travel times on some of Oxford’s key routes and the current and historic trends of vehicle numbers on Oxfordshire’s streets.

The website uses real time data collected for Oxfordshire County Council and its partners to 'unlock the potential of emerging smart city technology'.

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The information is being collected by Vivacity Labs using 24/7 Artificial Intelligence sensors installed at cycling hotspots in and around the city.

The goal in sharing this live data is to demonstrate how easy it is to get across Oxford by cycling

Councillor Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet member for environment, pointed out that Oxbike will play a 'particularly important' role for future decisions on city infrastructure.

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Ms Constance added:"Oxbike is a welcome contribution to our travel and transport work as a county and will enable the council and partners to understand the journey data much better.

"This will play a particularly important role as the council looks to expand and develop an upgraded cycling infrastructure amid the recovery from the pandemic and as we look to implement ways to cut emissions and wider transport plans including bus gates for Oxford."

According to a spokesperson for the county council Oxbike is another example of the 'collaborative work' the authority's innovation team has been doing.

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Called 'iHub', it works to connect the council with academia and businesses to develop, test and use technology with the hope to drive investment within the county.

Llewelyn Morgan, head of the innovation hub at the council said that the new project will improve the team's knowledge of road use and safety.

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Mr Morgan added:"There has been a lot of expectation of the benefit of connected vehicles, which are now becoming prevalent on our roads.

"Oxfordshire is committed to be at the forefront of this through enabling applications that benefit our communities.

"This project will develop an important application by connecting data with smart infrastructure to help improve our knowledge of road use and safety on the road for all users."

Since 2015, the iHub has supported over 60 innovation projects and Oxbike is the latest experiment on its list.

To check whether the new website is effective visit oxbike.co.uk