Around 8,000 deaths each year occur because of traffic accidents in the country. Transport means in Vietnam consume 50 percent of total fuel and are responsible for 70 percent of emissions that cause air pollution. 

Smart transportation helps reduce pollution by using vehicles with clean fuel and shared services. It also improves safety because data collected from sensors can be provided to drivers.

Ta Hai Tung, head of the Information & Communication Institute under the Hanoi University of Science & Technology, sees another benefit of smart transport: it can stimulate the market for apps.

“Lots of creative ideas - from instantaneous traffic information to issues related to route planning and stations - can all flourish on the basis of intelligent traffic,” he said.

Tung and his co-workers are conducting research on GPS sensors and developing a Live Traffic app.

Smart transport is the field where high technologies are demonstrated, including global positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS) and database (DB), media solutions or energy storage technology. 

Some countries with advanced science and technology have become suppliers of equipment, apps and smart transport platforms for the world.

Tung admitted that Vietnam will still have to import a wide range of equipment, such as high-quality sensors. Howe the sensors will operate in Vietnam is another story.

Meanwhile, Bui The Duy, Deputy Minister of Science & Technology, said Vietnam cannot just buy foreign products for domestic use. One of the tasks of the Ministry of Science & Technology in this period is developing technologies to serve smart transport.

Analysts said that Vietnamese businesses have certain advantages in competition with foreign smart transport app developers, including support from management agencies. In addition, they have deep understanding about the local situation.

Many taxi drivers complain that Google Map is slow in updating changes in transport routes. If Vietnamese-made software can be quicker than Google Map, it would gain the upper hand.

Nguyen Quang Tuan, deputy head of the Transport Science & Technology Institute, which is building architectural standards for smart transport system, said that motorbikes will continued to play an important role in people’s lives for many more years.

He believes that with Vinfast’s launch of its electricity-run motorbike, Vietnam can cherish the hope of a new motorbike generation which can join the smart transport system.

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