The team behind a TV-publicised traffic analysis and route planning AI that promises to alleviate Malta’s traffic woes say they are facing a lack of support to get the project off the ground.

They say that, although a homegrown project, lack of support – seemingly in part from the authorities – led to an “awkward situation” where the technology will be employed in North Macedonia first.

A Transport Ministry spokesperson said Transport Malta was cooperating with the team, however, it was also working on its own AI solution.

In January, AI professor and former Valletta mayor Alexiei Dingli secured €1.3m in funding from energy and healthcare entrepreneur Mark Bajada to develop his AI-powered Digital Traffic Brain after appearing on TVM’s Shark Tank.

Dingli says his AI (artificial intelligence) will be able to ease congestion on the roads by providing better route planning and alerting the authorities to accidents and breakdowns quicker. To do this, the software needs to plug into live data from across the road network and, according to Bajada, that is lacking.

“The main stumbling block is getting live data we can input in the system... government cameras would be part of it but, nowadays, you have so many cameras out there – [including] government vehicles with cameras on board,” he said.

Other ways of sourcing data include historical information to help predict future traffic and the team’s proprietary app which they intend to roll out to the public in the coming week, he explained.

Turning to the team’s “exciting” plans to roll out the system in North Macedonia, Bajada admitted it is “a bit of an awkward situation”.

Stressing the team understood the local market well and can very easily adapt, he said, the team had limited time. “So, despite having some support... we’re still not happy,” said Bajada.

Dingli explained the team had attended many meetings with the authorities. “You need a lot of meetings, a lot of convincing – even to explain the concept sometimes, [as] it’s not easy to understand... So, they’re taking their time. Hopefully, we’ll reach some conclusions sometime soon.”

We’re about providing the best solution for the country

A Transport Ministry spokesperson said Transport Malta (TM) was “actively engaging and maintaining open communication” with the team and had provided information and data requested for testing the AI model.

Transport Malta was “progressing with its own AI-driven traffic management project”, the spokesperson said, noting that system “did not exclude integration with other AI-driven solutions”.

He said the TM project – awarded last year and now in the “implementation phase” – aimed to “enhance road safety, reduce congestion, and support sustainable transport solutions in line with EU directives.”

Describing the team’s journey so far as an “exciting rollercoaster”, Dingli said they had been busy building prototypes of different parts of the service and were now working to put them together into a “coherent system.”

Describing the first iteration of the app as a “notice board” providing detailed information about traffic across the country, the AI professor said future updates would include traffic routing.

“But it’s not just about having the AI working; we’re also working on the user experience because that ensures people use it, find it useful and keep on using it.”

In addition to the app, Dingli said the team was working on a software dashboard to provide information to the authorities and a simulator that will allow the team to test how infrastructure changes will affect traffic.

With the developers looking at snapshots of traffic data at intervals of 10 minutes, they are gaining valuable insights into vehicle movements.

“The best time for shopping is Saturday around midday and the change in traffic between the weekend and weekdays is around 48%, which is massive,” said Dingli, adding rush hour regularly saw traffic volume almost double.

But with more cars being added to the road each day, will the Digital Traffic Brain ever suggest walking or using public transport instead?

“Yes. Remember, our objective is to optimise traffic for the country; it’s not about promoting cars. We’re about providing the best solution for the country.”