Around 1.5 million football fans will descend on Qatar next month for the FIFA World Cup, and in an effort to ease the inevitable transport and traffic woes, the Middle Eastern nation has turned to a small Australian company for help.

With a land size smaller than that of Sydney and a population the size of Perth, Qatar has spent up big on infrastructure projects in the 12 years since being announced as the host nation of this year’s World Cup, with spend estimates ranging from A$290 billion to A$435 billion.

Among the recipients of this investment is ASX-listed Traffic Technologies (ASX: TTI), a hardware and software provider of traffic solutions that was awarded a contract to supply its co-ordinated adaptive traffic management system to the oil-rich nation.

To be delivered in time for the event – which kicks off on 20th November with a projected global audience of five billion people – TTI’s SCATS Cornerstone Special Priority Engine is able to provide a real-time spatial model and accurate virtual representation of road intersections.

Originally developed by Transport for NSW to co-ordinate better traffic control, its intuitive user interface operates the management of new and updated intersection drawings (traffic signal plans) to provide “a single source of truth” for the configuration and layout of intersections.

Deploying the scalable and adaptable tech in Qatar will ensure emergency vehicles can receive first priority through road intersections, as well as enabling public transport and special vehicles to move visitors between World Cup stadiums with minimum delay and maximum efficiency.

Having already extensively trialled the product, the government of Qatar will deploy the system to 150 intersections, representing the first major international deployment outside of Australia and New Zealand for the Aussie company’s specialist software.

“This contract is a milestone for the company as it represents a significant strategic opportunity to deploy next-generation Smart City technology in an expanding overseas market,” Traffic Technologies MD Con Liosatos said.

“We see this as a pivotal step for the company in providing SaaS across our markets and in particular using digital technology to manage multiple transport systems around the world, including autonomous vehicles in the future.”

The nation of Qatar – which is known for its continued investment in advanced technology with the goal of developing futuristic cities – is expected to deploy the tech to further intersections over the coming years to provide increasingly efficient travel throughout its capital, Doha.

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Sources:

• uts.edu.au, The Economics of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar
• TTI investor portal, Traffic Technologies to support Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 with real-time technology